Steam & Excursion > Some Steam Railroads Had Even More Character Than Others!

By 1950, the Rio Grande Southern narrow gauge railroad in Colorado was definitely on its last legs both financially and also in its maintenance of the rolling stock and right-of-way for the line.  This shows in this photo of RGS #20 on one of her last freight runs over the line.

RGS #20 was one of the aging 4-6-0s that were originally built for the Florence & Cripple Creek Railroad.  #20 had been given the name "Portland" when she was first built by ALCO for the F&CC.  The years of hard work in the Rockies has taken it's toll on #20 as we see here.  She still bears the clipper ship painting on her tender from her starring role in the 1950 movie, "A Ticket To Tomahawk".  The aging rolling stock. both on her train, and in the yards shows the age of of everything bearing the RGS name.

Fortunately, today we have #20 running again after many years of being rebuilt.  She can be seen operating at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado with a few other surviving relics from the fabled RGS.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/21 03:35 by LoggerHogger.

---

Surprisingly, for such a down and out operation as the RGS, a large amount of equipment either owned by the railroad, or operated by the railroad survives, and much of it in operating condition.   In addition to the #20 at CRRM, #41 operates at Knotts Berry Farm, and #42 is stored in the D&SNG museum in Durango.  Engine #74 is at CRRM as well.   D&RG #463 and #464 both operated on the railroad and are in operating condition in New Mexico, and Michigan. 

In her book about the RGS, Josie Moore Crum (wife of a career RGS conductor and goose motorman) commented on the remaining locomotives.
She wrote that No. 20 was a crew favorite, always working well and never in a serious accident. 
For comparison No. 74 was always acting up, including balking and having to be rescued by another engine on one of the last Rocky Mountain RR Club's excursions.  
IIRC F&CC/RGS 20 is similar to SP No. 18, which is haunting Durango right now (except for the shape of the tender).

Despite Mrs. Crum's glowing report, the 20 was a very worn out and tired locomotive at the end of the RGS.  She had many minor derailments.  The lateral motion in her #2 driver (with a blind tire) was such that it frequently slipped off the inside of the rail on curves and on switches.

#20 was involved in the last fatal derailment on the  RGS in the summer of 1943 when she derailed to the inside of a curve about 5 miles to the west of where this photo was taken (which is Hesperus).  #20 was helping 2-8-0 #40 up the hill.  #40 derailed its back driver to the inside of the curve (might have been another excessive lateral thing with a blind intermediate driver).  The engines were pulling hard with a very heavy drag.  The 40 turned over to the left on a fill, taking the 20 with it.  #20's fireman was pinned under the engine and tender and died from his injuries. 

#20 was patched back together using parts from #'s 22 and 25, two sister locomotives that had been retired previously, and managed to limp along to the end of the railroad in Dec, 1951.  #40 was not so lucky, although it didn't seem to be as torn up as #20 in wreck, the RGS determined she was beyond repair and scrapped her.  When #20 went over, she landed on a big rock which put a noticeable dent in her boiler.

There were many legends about #20 in the later years of the RGS.  One being that whenever it was reported than an ICC locomotive inspector was around, #20 got taken out of town and hid so the inspector couldn't red tag the poor thing.  When the Rocky Mountain RR Club bought the #20 after abandonment, the former RGS mechanical foreman took one of the members aside and told him in confidence "whatever you do, don't EVER try to fire up #20..."

#74 always seemed to get a bad reputation.  She really wasn't a bad engine.  The crews didn't like her, mostly because they wanted the Company to buy a K-27's Mudhen.  Which the RGS would have gladly done, had the Rio Grande been willing to sell them one.  But the Grande wasn't willing to part with any at the time.  A year or so later, they did get #461.

There was a time in the early 1930's when there was interest in trading the 3 Schenectady 4-6-0's to the D&RGW for 2 or 3 K-27's.  The 4-6-0's were built as passenger engines and were not really well suited for drag freight work.  The D&RGW had borrowed them and were using them on the passenger run between Gunnison and Montrose, which included the 4% climb over Cerro Summit.  The D&RGW had been using 2-8-0's for this run, but they had a hard time keeping the schedule with their small drivers.  The bigger 2-8-0's could get the passenger train over Cerro without a helper though.  The 4-6-0's had the same tractive effort as the 2-8-0's and taller drivers which allowed them to keep the schedule.  The trade was in the works when the D&RGW decided to drop the passenger run, and the story ends there. 

I know Linn Modinger, who masterminded #20's resurrection, said she was the most hammered, beat up and broken engine he had ever had the honor of working on.

Concerning the photograph, it is taken at Hesperus, about 17 miles west of Durango.  #20 is headed east (timetable direction west!) toward Durango. Today's highway goes right through the center of the shot.  Note the dilapidated coach on the end of the spur.  This was the Hesperus "depot"  It replaced the depot building which stood behind #20 until it burned in 1941.

I stand corrected, thanks.
But it is still a nicely proportioned locomotive and I enjoyed seeing the photo.