| Rio Grande No. 346 | |||||||||||||||
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| D&RGW 346 Operating At the Colorado Railroad Museum | |||||||||||||||
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D&RGW No. 346 is a C-19 class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type narrow gauge steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1881 for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG), later known as the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW). It was originally named "Cumbres" and wore road number 406. This type of locomotive was needed for the then new "San Juan Extension" of the D&RG, which ran from Alamosa, over Cumbres Pass, to Durango and Silverton.
406 was primarily used in helper service. In 1923, it was renumbered 346, and in 1924, it was fitted with a new boiler. At that time, due to an ICC edict, all locomotives with wrought iron boilers had to be refitted with steel boilers… or scrapped. When the newer 400-series locomotives were purchased by the Rio Grande, 346 was transferred to the lines out of Gunnison and occasionally would be leased to the Rio Grande Southern for use on their lines from Durango to Telluride and Ridgeway. During the 1930s, 346 was one of three locomotives leased to the Colorado & Southern.
346 was wrecked on Kenosha Pass after the locomotive rolled over on a curve. 346 was rebuilt in the Denver shops, the site of which became the Associated Grocers' Warehouse. The rebuild took only three weeks, and during that reconstruction, the locomotive got a steel cab, but lost its dome rings. After the rebuild the locomotive sat idle. 346 was sent to the Montezuma Lumber Company in 1947, to be used on the Rio Grande Southern just outside of Durango. When the mill burned down, the engine was no longer needed. Bob Richardson, one of the museum founders, bought 346 in 1950, and managed to get it to Alamosa, where he placed the locomotive at the Narrow Gauge Motel.
As of today, 346 is now one of three operational steam locomotives at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, CO, the others being D&RGW 491 and RGS 20. In October 2021, 346 was taken out of service in preparation for a complete overhaul, as well as its Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) mandated 1,472-day boiler inspection. In late April 2024, 346 was moved to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNG) in Durango, CO where the FRA mandated 1,472-day inspection and overhaul will take place and will eventually return back to the museum when the work is complete.
Trivia[]
- This is one of the Denver & Rio Grande's heavier 3-ft gauge Consolidations: A type C-19 – "C" for Consolidation, and "19" for 19,000 pounds of tractive effort.
- 346 was first steamed up at the Colorado Railroad Museum on July 29, 1962.
