DRGW had 45 K-class engines - all qualified "heavy" road engines in ng terms. Assuming some losses due to wrecks and retiring a few of the K-27s, there could have easily been 35 engines available for the DRGW ng system. Allowing for plenty of shop time, you could have at least 25 available on a daily basis. That would be enough power for 20 trains each day (passenger + freight), and another 5 in helper service. Remember that there were still several C-class and other engines that were used where the K's feared to tread, plus switching and local service that did not need larger power. Due to standard gauging and the general decline in mining and rail passenger travel, I doubt the DRGW would have had any need for that much power during the 1940s.
The greatest threat to the DRGW ng locomotives was the effort to dieselize the ng in the late 50s and early 60s. Due to the numerous excellant images and stories that are available, most of us have been exposed to the last days of the DRGW ng during its last days primarily moving pipe. About six diesels would have easily replaced steam, allowing DRGW to dispose of the remaining steam locomotives. By dispose, I mean most would have been scrapped because it would porbably not have been possible to buy or have DRGW donate them all.
The SPng only lasted six years after being dieselized. The purpose of the #1 was to reduce costs until abandonment could be justified to the ICC. I'm sure the DRGW would still have abandoned its ng lines regardless if they had dieselized, the bottom line being their just wasn't enough traffic to financially justify continued operations. The diesels would have been sold to WP&Y or some other ng in Central or South America.
It is fortunate that so many ng DRGW locomotives survived and are still operable or could be rebuilt. While it would be fantastic if most of the reamaining DRGW locomotives were operable, there is only so much demand on the DSNG and CATS. Not that they wouldn't each appreciate having a couple extra engines.
