Okay, it has been posted before, but here is the K-37 tender swapping story. Let's start with 496's tender. When the 496 was scrapped in the 1950's, its tender was placed on the 491 which used this tender during the remaining years that it ran on the D&RGW. The 497 rolled over in the early 1960's on Cumbres and its tender was wrecked. When it was put back in service, it got 490's tender, 490 having been retired. 498 was wrecked on Cumbres at the same time and got 494's tender when it went back into service. When 494 was sold to the states in 1970, it did not have a tender as its tender had been given to 498 about 1962, as mentioned. So that 494 would have a tender, the D&RGW pulled the tender off 491 and gave it to 494. As you will remember from above, this tender is the tender that came from 496 and had run behind the 491 more recently. Although this tender is now behind 494 in Antonito, the 494 never ran with this tender. So this left 491 without a tender. When it was given to the Colorado State Historical Society and moved to Golden, it needed a tender. So the D&RGW pulled the tender off 499 and shipped 491 to Golden with 499's tender, which remains behind 491 at the CRRM. Again, 491 never ran with this tender. Now 499 is left without a tender. In this condition, it was sold to the D&S and shipped off to Durango along with 493 and 498. When the D&S traded the 499 to Canon City for the 486, 499 needed a tender. The D&S pulled the tender off 498 and off it went with 498's tender. You will recall from above that this tender had come to 498 from 494. As far as I know, in recent times, the 492, 493 and 495 have kept their original tenders. So as this is written, 498 is the K-37 without a tender.
How do I know all this?-- From a lot of reading and talking to folks and being around when some of it happened. However, it can be easily confirmed in photographs as K-37 tenders are unique in several respects, such as rivet patterns (492 is the only one with vertical rivets on the tank, for instance), height of coal boards, and perhaps the most obvious indicators are the unique patches on each tender. The K-36's are not as unique and harder to trace. However, there are some unique characteristics or marks on them as well. For instance, the 488 had the unique squared off shoulder on the top of the side. This tender ran on 488 during most of its later D&RGW operation, but it also appeared on 484 in the early 1940's, and perhaps earlier. Another example is the 482, which had a very distinctive longitudinal dent in the tank that appears in photos over the years.
