A frequently retold story about D&RGW #346 is that while leased to the C&S in she was wrecked on Kenosha Pass on 7/25/36, and as a result received “home made” dome covers, a new cab, and had her driver tires turned down to create “half flanges” on her previously blind #2 and #3 drivers, the idea being that the C&S track was so rickety, blind drivers were too prone to derailing.
After squinting at the Denver Public Library’s on-line photos of #346, I began to have my doubts about the provenance on the half flanges. Now with the new feature DPL has allowing viewers to zoom in on photos, history has changed. Please follow the links to the zoomed in photos of this locomotive.
#346 on the C&S 9/23/36.
#346 on the C&S 9/29/36.
#346 on the C&S, also on 9/29/36.
All of the photos above were taken after her return to service on the C&S, and feature the new domes and cab, along with obviously blind #2 and #3 drivers.
#346 at Gunnison on 5/10/39.
#346 at Durango on 7/5/41.
These photos show that #346 was still running with her blind drivers as late as 1941
#346 at Durango on 6/28/46.
This final photo shows #346 with driver tires that are obviously thinner and with the half flanges on the #2 and #3 drivers.
So the question is why would the Rio Grande, after over sixty years of successfully operating #346 with blind drivers, turn a considerable amount of tire metal away to put half flanges on her?
Was this something done by the RGS to help her negotiate their rickety track? That doesn’t add up either, since the other RGS 2-8-0’s ran with blind drivers.
Photos of other C&S 2-8-0’s do show them having very small flanges on their middle drivers, smaller than the ones on #346, so it does look like it was a C&S practice, but as the photos linked above show, C&S wasn’t the one who machined them onto #346’s drivers. Curiouser and curiouser…
