Steam & Excursion > Steam Files - D&RGW #2

D&RGW 1600
Class M-75 (M= Mountain Type, 75 = nominal 75,000 lbs. tractive effort)
3 cylinder 4-8-2
 
The 1600’s arrived on the property during the Summer of 1926, built by Baldwin. Baldwin? Yes indeed, even though that was Alco’s bailiwick.  Rio Grande was looking for something to replace the 1923 built passenger 4-8-2’s (1500’s) with 63” drivers that were hammering the track at speed. Alco suggested a 3 cylinder locomotive with larger 67” drivers. They had built similar engines for the Lehigh Valley, DL&W and New Haven, and also 4-10-2’s for Southern Pacific and 4-12-2 three cylinder monsters for the UP.
 
Somehow though it was Baldwin that got the order for ten locomotives. That created a problem though, as Alco held the exclusive license for the Gresley valve gear used for the inside cylinder. Baldwin substituted a double Walschaerts that was located on the right hand side to do the job, which seems to have worked out fine.
 
After arrival, these locos were placed in Denver – Salt Lake City passenger service on the “Scenic Limited” and other trains. Remember, back in those days they had to go via Tennessee Pass as the Moffat Route was a dead end and there was no Moffat Tunnel, just yet. It wasn’t long before Rio Grande track crews got busy repairing damage to the 90 and 100 lb. rails these massive beasts were destroying. Indeed they were the heaviest 3 cylinder Mountains ever built at an engine weight of 419,000 lbs.
 
In 1929 they were replaced in passenger service by the 1700’s (4-8-4’s) and relegated to lower speed freight service between Grand Junction CO and Helper, UT, an assignment they held pretty much for the rest of their lives which lasted up until 1948 and 1949. Calling the west end of the railroad home, they got their shopping done at Salt Lake and acquired the Salt Lake shop treatment of raked or sports style cabs and flat smoke boxes.
 
For some reason the first five (1600 – 1604) had Worthington BL-4 feedwater heaters, and the 2nd five (1605 – 1609) had Elescos. It appears the DRGW preferred the Elescos.
 
Specs:
 
Cylinders (3) 25” x 30”, 67” driver diameter, 210 lbs. boiler pressure, and 74, 970 lbs of tractive effort.
Tender Capacity: 25 tons of Rosebud Coal; 15,000 gallons water
Standard Simplex Type B stoker
Schmidt Type A Superheater
 
Image shows D&RGW 1600 at Grand Junction on September 24, 1938; unknown photographer. Another Otto Perry ?
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/25 05:23 by train1275.

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Some notes about post-WWII D&RGW mainline operations.  As soon as WWII ended, the D&RGW (among many US railroads) began the wholesale replacement of steam locomotives with diesel locomotives.  Steam locomotives required intensive maintenance and that was especially true on the D&RGW mainline from Grand Junction, Colorado to Helper, Utah.  The locomotive water supplies on that stretch were chock full of alkali and other minerals, requiring constant use of additives to the water to prevent foaming in the boilers and to lessen scaling in the boilers.  So, as D&RGW dieselization began, the line between Grand Junction and Helper was the first to see steam locomotives being eliminated.  By 1951, it was rare to see steam locos between Grand Junction and Helper.  The 3700s, only a few years old, which had been bought specifically for use on the D&RGW west of Grand Junction were relegated mostly to service in Colorado--most of that between Denver and Pueblo.  One such 3700-series, the 3703, blew up in 1952 do to low water in the boiler  at Louviers, Colorado, south of Denver.  The head end crew, along with a "guest" in the cab, presumed to be a railfan, were killed.  Many "west end" D&RGW locomotives made their last runs from Utah to Pueblo, on their way to scrapping, their metal going to the CF&I steel mill in Pueblo.  Some survived in service for a few years, but all D&RGW standard-gauge steam was gone from the D&RGW by December 31, 1956.  I knew some locomotive crews years ago who worked the Utah Division of the D&RGW during the last years of D&RGW standard gauge steam operations.  While they all loved steam locomotives, they all admitted that railroading west of Grand Junction got much easier for them when the diesels had replaced steam.