Rio Grande class C-19
Denver and Rio Grande C-19 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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D&RGW #346 at the Colorado Railroad Museum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Denver and Rio Grande Western C-19 (originally Denver and Rio Grande Class 70 or Class 74) is a class of 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotives built for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG), later the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1881. These engines were built to supplement the smaller and weaker Class 60 2-8-0s (later designated C-16 after the reorganization).
By the end of the 1880s, five of these bigger narrow-gauge engines were converted to standard gauge, but by 1900, they all were converted back to narrow gauge. Two C-19s were purchased secondhand by the Rio Grande Southern Railroad as No. 40 and No. 41 respectively. As of today, only 3 C-19's exist in preservation, D&RGW No. 346 was the first C-19 to be preserved, as it was purchased by Robert W. Richardson, the founder of the Colorado Railroad Museum, while the other two (D&RGW No. 340 and RGS No. 41 respectively) were purchased for operation on Ghost Town & Calico Railroad on Knott's Berry Farm, in Buena Park, California.