A friend of mine talked with a man many years ago who was the Pueblo, (I think it was Pueblo) roundhouse foreman. Before that he worked in Salida on narrow and standard gauge engines. This man told my friend the story that after the war was over the Rio Grande sent him and two other shopmen out to Auburn, Washington to get parts off of the '28's that were there. The Rio Grande, he said, didn't need any more '28's because of the downturn in business. They just wanted parts to keep the three that they did have running. This man said that they took rods, a pony and trailing truck, and even a couple sets of drivers among other things. So, I'm willing to bet that some of the "missing" K-28's parts still live on the 473,476, and 478.
#252's (#472) boiler was sent to the Pueblo Ordinance Depot. I called them, (I forget what the place is called now) to find out if they had any stationary boilers on the property. I didn't really get an answer. I'm not sure if anyone has ever really dug around to see if its still there, but wouldn't that be a find...
In my interviews with the 770th Veterans, I specifically asked them what they remembered of the K-28's. They all called them the 'Rio Grande engines'. I'll post some of the excerpts below.
"I remember working on the shoes and wedges...let's see, we turned some new bushings for the rods...just about whatever you'd expect you'd do to keep an engine running ya know." Frank Larcomb, machinist.
"Oh yeah, them Rio Grande engines? I remember we had to make a snow-plow...seems like for a couple of 'em." Mack Pugh, mechanic.
"Yeah, I remember the 250. She was a pretty good steamer,all things considered. I liked firing the 190's better though." Max Shief, fireman.
"Those Rio Grande engines were pretty good, yeah. We used 'em quite a bit, especially before the 190's got there. I can't remember anything out of the ordinary about 'em really. They'd just kind of waddle up the hill!" Herb Crabtree, mechanic.
Casey
