My son and I are working on a project and he wanted a brief description of 463's time on the C&TS. We have Antoinette Gibbons' book as well has every back issue of the Friends Dispatch inclucing the excellent article Earl wrote. We wanted to have a brief summary between the point where it was taken to Chama for the 1st restoration to the point where it was out of service and stored in Antonito. Below is what we came up with. Does anyone see anything in error or something of significance we forgot?
Bill Kepner
drgw0579@comcast.net
Chase Kepner
drgw463@comcast.net
Historic K-27 #463 saw it's first C&TS steam up on Wednesday, April 27, 1994. It had been donated to the Town of Antonito in 1972 by Gene Autry, but a shortage of money prevented an immediate restoration
and the engine spent many years sitting in the Antonito engine house. After being trucked to Chama in the Summer of 1992, it took two and a half years and $240,000 to prepare her for operation.
The C&TS Engine crews found 463 pulled much better than expected. But she was a bit temperamental; try to fire it like the larger K-36 class, and its steaming ability suffered badly. The sound
it made was very distinctive; the tall stack gave it a sharp a bark that the other engines didn't have. When double-headed with a larger K36 or K37 up Cumbres Pass, the 463 sounded like she was doing the majority of the work.
The 463 quickly became a fan favorite. On June 11, 1994 it was the helper on the Friend's "Tank Cars to Cumbres" Railfan Photo Freight. Over the years it led many more special trains including portraying Rio Grande Southern 455 in August 1997.
In November 1998, the US Department of Transportation approved a change to the FRA rules covering the inspection and maintenance of steam engines, known as "49 CFR 230". By January 18, 2002, any operating steam engine was required to be completely inspected and the boiler shell mapped with an ultrasonic probe to determine its thickness. With this data, a new "Maximum Allowable Working Pressure" would be calculated. Not only did these requirements expose issues with some of the repairs performed over the long years of operation,
but in some cases, the original boiler designs would need to be enhanced.
Since the four servicable K36s on the railroad were 22 years newer than the 463, it was natural that they had priority over the 463 (and K37) 497 to be rebuilt to the new standards. But 463's fans continued to support efforts to return her to service, and by 2008 a substantial
amount of donations and grants had been obtained to allow the restoration planning to begin. By the summer of 2009, visible progress had been made and by that October, the boiler had been sent to at Historic Machinery Services in Springville Alabama for a complete overhaul.
As this is written in December 2009, the hope is that 463 will be back in service in 2010.
