
C&TS No. 15 Sitting in Chama, NM Alongside C&TS K-36 No. 487
C&TS No. 15 is a 47-tonner center-cab type narrow gauge diesel locomotive built by General Electric (GE) in October 1943, originally for the Oahu Railway & Landing Company (OR&LCo.). In the 1970s, it was sold to the Georgetown Loop Railroad to operate tourist excursion trains between Georgetown and Silver Plume, CO. It was leased to the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (C&TS) between Chama, NM and Antonito, CO for a short time in the early 1990s and later leased again to the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, CO in the early 2010s as backup power to operate short excursion trains on the museum grounds there. In 2013, it was leased yet again to the C&TS and officially sold to them later that year where it has remained in service ever since. It is used on the C&TS for both switching operations, as well as backup power for their tourist excursion trains whenever their narrow gauge steam locomotives are unable to operate.
As of today, it is currently one of three operable narrow gauge diesels on the C&TS, the others being GE 47-tonner center-cab type diesel No. 19, also a former OR&LCo. locomotive, and Bombardier DL-535E type diesel No. 114, which was recently acquired by the C&TS from the White Pass & Yukon Route (WP&Y) in Skagway, AK on November 11, 2023. It mainly operates out of Chama, NM while sister diesel No. 19 mainly operates out of Antonito, CO.