Snowplow Brackets and Logistics

Hi, Wade:
Thanks for the information. I would not argue any of your points, and I was somewhat surprised by the lack of brackets on as many of the 490's as I found this morning.
The brackets I refer to are the ones mounted, bolted, onto the sides of the smokebox, angled in such a way as to meet the steel rod coming up from the rear corners of the pilot mounted plows. These brackets are very easy to see in pictures from either side if an engine has them. Once holes were drilled to install the brackets it is unsusual to see them filled flush. The only examples I know of where this happened were to #476 and maybe #478, late in their years of service on "The Silverton". There would be no way to install the plows without the brackets, and it seems unlikely that the brackets would be removed if there was a chance a plow may need to be installed again.
Anyway, that's how I made the list I did this morning, using as sources Volumes 1 and 11 of the Grandt pictorials on D&RGW motive power. Probably half of the engines listed were not pictured with plows, but did show brackets, which would be an indicator that plows may have been installed at one time or other.
Naturally, one of my creeds in life is never say never, but if any of the other engines had plows I would be somewhat surprised after what I saw this morning....
On the C&S, only some engines were fitted with wedge plows each year, and these were always engines used as road engines and lead helpers during the winter months. Others were used as mid train or second helpers. Following the same logic, it is likely that each year only certain engines were fitted with wedge plows on the D&RGW each winter, too. Certainly there were at any time only a limited number of plows available for use. Far fewer than the number of engines available for service, anyway.
Mike