Mason 461, 0-4-4T or 0-4-2T

I am working on a compiled narrative history of American Fork Railroad no. 1, a Mason 0-4-4T built in 1872. It was sold to Eureka & Palisade in late 1873, then sold again to Nevada Central in 1879. It returned to Utah in December 1882 and became Utah & Northern no. 45, then later no. 296 in the general 1885 UP renumbering. UP annual reports suggest that it was retired and scrapped in May 1886.

The question about the engine's wheel arrangement comes from the reference in the equipment list for the 1885 renumbering. No. 296 is shown as a "6 Wheel" engine. The two available engravings and the builder photo show the engine as an 0-4-4T, or an 8 wheel engine. The fact that it was rebuilt at least two times in Nevada certainly provides a chance for it to have been rebuilt as an 0-4-2T, or a 6 wheel engine. I know of no photos of the engine in Nevada, or after its return to Utah, that might show the wheel arrangement.

So, if someone could look up the engine in Art Wallace's "Mason Steam Locomotives," published in 2004, it might shed some light of my question. (I really can't justify buying the book to answer one question about the one single Mason engine that ran in Utah.)

Garrie Tufford wrote about this engine in The Western Railroader in 1998, but kind of fluffs the answer to the question about its final wheel arrangement. He included one of the engravings and the builder photo as part the article.

Don Strack
[utahrails.net]