Meet the K-28
class Mikado
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Meet the K-28 |
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Durango, Colo., is home to a trio of K-28 sisters, #473, #476, and #478. The K-28s are called "sports models" because their air pumps are mounted on the front of the smoke box, giving them a racy, semi-streamlined appearance. Two have steam-assisted power reversing gear, and all were part of a ten-locomotive order numbered as the 470-series in 1923 (actually, their original series was C-154 but they were quickly re-categorized as K-28s in 1924).
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Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad K-28 #476, photographed in mid-July 1972 in the narrow gauge railroad yard at Durango, Colorado, as the hostler brought her to be coupled onto Train 461, also known as First Silverton (or the first section northbound train). |
The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad starts at milepost 451—measured in railroad miles from the yards in Denver (even though much of that track is now abandoned). Durango was platted and developed by the railroad company, in competition with an existing settlement to the immediate north, which finally threw in the towel and was annexed in.
The community was named after Durango, Mexico, on the intended (but never achieve) D&RG main line to Mexico City. Durango's web site featuring the D&SNG Railroad and the Silverton Train.
Number 476, shown approaching the soon-to-depart train (in just a moment the yard crew will couple to the passenger cars and yield the locomotive controls to the road crew), did not have power reverse—perhaps that's why I like it best. The engineer really had to use his back and shoulders to set his cut-off or back the locomotive, and I felt sorry for him. Besides, I never liked the steam actuating cylinder hanging off the right side running board signifying the presence of the power assist.
The K-28 2-8-2s, built by ALCO—the American Locomotive Company at its Schenectady, N. York, locomotive works—proved themselves such capable workhorses the railroad soon added 20 additional more-powerful Mikados, 10 K-36s numbered as 480s and 10 big (by narrow gauge standards) K-37s numbered as 490s. Only three K-28s survived. Here's information I received from a fellow narrow-gauge aficionado about the other seven. A long-ago friend used to close his letters: "470s Forever!"
The K-36s were also built by ALCO and the K-37s were home-built by the D&RGW from standard gauge Baldwin-built 2-8-0 boilers on new ALCO frames and running gear. The railroad's Burnham Shops in Denver made the 2-8-2 tenders into narrow-gauge by unwelding the frames, shoving them closer together, and mounting narrow-gauge trucks underneath. That's one way to recycle. Another still operating ex-D&RGW narrow gauge line—the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad—uses the heavier K-36 and K-37 Mikados to operate from Chama, N. Mex., to Antonito, Colo.
The little (loaded weight 127 tons with tender) 2-8-2 Mikado, also called a Mike, is my favorite locomotive in the whole world—I love this engine and its whistle almost as much as I love my wife Terri (yes, she knows).
The Mikado in this photo is the only one of the three existing K-28s with manual reversing gear. Sister locomotives #473 and #478 are equipped with power-assisted reverse activation pistons on the engineer's side. I guess I like this one best because my sympathy is to the engineer, who has to "arm strong" the cut-off lever, instead of letting steam do the work for him.
The three K-28s (and seven more scrapped in the early 1950s by the U.S. Army) were built at Schnectady, New York, in 1923 by a consortium of locomotive manufacturers calling themselves the American Locomotive Company, or ALCO. To this day, my heart beats faster when I hear ALCO or Schnectady. Other locomotives are fine but these three are finer!
Notice the unusually placement of the front-mounted air-compression pumps for the train braking system. Because these pumps gave the K-28s a racy appearance, early crews dubbed them the "sports models."
This locomotive is almost at the place where the highway into Durango from Mancos and Hesperus (U.S. 160) crosses the tracks to Silverton. In 1987, an out-of-control semi raced 14 miles down the winding hill without brakes before ramming into the side of #473 at the unguarded crossing, causing extensive damage.
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