D&RGWR 315 Departing Cumbres, CO

In June of 2018 D&RGW 315 led this photo freight from Antonito to Cumbres Pass and back to Antonito the next day. This video captures 315 leaving Cumbres Pass on its way toward Antonito.
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad 315 was built in July 1895 by Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the Florence & Cripple Creek Railroad. Named the Elkton, it was one of twelve Consolidations of the same class built for F&CC. It served the Florence & Cripple Creek for about 17 years. After the flood of 1912, the F&CC was financially unable to repair its roadway, so it was isolated at Canyon City and then put into storage at Colorado Springs after the F&CC closed down in 1915. The Elkton and her sister engines sat derelict until 1917 when five of them were purchased by the D&RG. D&RG bought a sixth sister in 1920. The engines were loaded aboard D&RG flat cars and moved to the D&RG Burnham Shops in Denver, where they were repaired and upgraded to help meet the increased transportation demands of World War I.
When the engines were put into service the F&CC #3 became D&RG #425. After the reorganization of D&RG and its merger with the Rio Grande Western in Utah in 1921, the railroad became the Denver & Rio Grande Western. The locomotive was called D&RGW #425 for a short time. Following the reorganization, many locomotives were renumbered to bring order to the locomotive classes, and D&RGW #425 became D&RGW #315 in January 1924.
The 315 was first assigned to the Alamosa Division as a freight engine, where it was known to be in Chama around 1921-22 and in Durango around 1928. It was leased to the Rio Grande Southern for a period in 1926-1927. It was on the Gunnison Branch in 1929 and idle in Salida for a few years after the stock market crashed and again in the late 1930s during a recession. It served the Ouray Bran

Thanks, Yard Limit! That was fun!

Thanks from me, too. No diesel can put on a show starting up like a steam engine can.

Thank you!

Thank you! Watching 315 start moving was like nothing I’ve ever seen before!

No doubt, and it was impressive, but have you ever seen a Norfolk and Western Class A or J get underway?

Lord have mercy…

Here, let me help you out a bit…

N&W Class A 1218 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdjsuGwY3k0

Old-times here in Virginia say there was absolutely nothing like the sound of a Class A “hooter” whistle echoing up and down the “hollers” of the Virginia mountains on a snowy night. Weird, mysterious, and wonderful.

N&W Class J 611. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKOGpTsL-kY

Best passenger steam engine ever built. “Lady Firestorm’s Own.”

There was a local railfan who went on this trip. He told me the overcast/rain sytem over the Cumbres and Toltec, was kicking up wind up north that accelerated the 416 Fire up near Durango…

No doubt. The rain and thunderstorms that occurred that day didn’t extend far enough west to help Durango. All they got out of the system was wind. We have another system moving into the area tomorrow, June 15, so hopefully it will extend far enough north to help put out the 416 fire.