Nice pictures of D&SNG 478

[steve24944]

This showed up on my Yahoo Home page today

Nice pictures of D&SNG 478

http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/13/9907442/k28-steam-locomotive-1923-denver-and-rio-grande-western

[Firelock76]

Those ARE nice shots!  See, who doesn't like steam?

[Thechief66]

Great pics of a hard workin' steam locomotive!

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Firelock76

Those ARE nice shots!  See, who doesn't like steam?

I would think that a pair of GA8's in Rio Grande colors would look pretty sharp, too.  They might have also prolonged the life of the narrow gauge as a common carrier.

[ROBERT WILLISON]

Ga8?

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The GA8 was an EMD export locomotive designed for meter gauge and less operations, such as in Mexico and Chile.

http://emdexport.railfan.net/namerica/mexico37.html

[ROBERT WILLISON]

If we are going the diesel route, than i 'd vote for the white pass and Yukon locos. Either the ge units from  1953 or the alco's from 1969. Both are sharp.

But the steamers are the best. 

[Firelock76]

Narrow gauge diesels wouldn't have saved the Rio Grande.  In fact, the main reason the road never dieselized was the company officials knew the end was coming, sooner or later, so it was cheaper to stay with steam to the end.

Narrow gauge diesels couldn't save the Newfoundland Railway either, but then except for during World War Two that road never made any money anyway.

[HiDesertEd]

The narrow gauge lasted as long as it did as a Common Carrier because of the oil and gas boom after WWII.

Without the revenue boost from hauling equipment and miles of pipe to the oil patch most of the N.G. would have been abandoned much earlier.  The problem that always exists for narrow gauge is the break - of - gauge issue causing extra expense when freight had to be either transfered or re-trucked.

The third rail helped but with the necessity of using steam only because of weight restrictions and the expense of double and triple headed trains made operating costs difficult to manage.  Couple rising costs with falling revenue as business started shipping by truck and management was left with no option but abandonment of everything except the tourist operation on the Silverton Branch.