Re: D&RGW C-17

The six locomotives of the C-17 Class were built by Baldwin for the Denver & Rio Grande as "70 Class" engines in 1887. They were numbered from 417 to 422 inclusive. The "70" designation came from the fact that they weighed 70,000 lbs in working order. This did cause a little confusion because the 1881 locomotives in the 400 to 411 series were also "70 Class" although they were very different engines.

The 420 was sold to the Rio Grande Southern and became their 42 in 1916. She served the RGS until the end, being used in scrap trains and has survived to reside in the D&SNG roundhouse/museum.

In the 1924 renumbering of the newly formed Denver & Rio Grande Western the 1887 "70 Class" were reclassified as C-17 and were numbered in the 300 series. C for consolidation and 17 for 17,000 lbs of tractive effort. The numbers and the final dispositions are as follows:

417 to 300, Dismantled 5-36
418 to 303, Dismantled 9-35
419 to 304, Dismantled 11-34
421 to 301, Dismantled 5-36
422 to 302, Dismantled 10-38

There were two other members of the class which came from the Rio Grande Western, the Utah end of the Rio Grande narrow gauge. They came to the RGW from the Utah Central. They were 554, formerly RGW #1, formerly UC #1, Baldwin 1895 and 555, formerly RGW 13, formerly UC #3, nee Great Falls & Canada #3, Baldwin 1890. Both of these engines were standard gauged by the RGW and changed back to narrow gauge by the Rio Grande in 1918. In the 1924 renumbering they were added to the C-17 class because of their similar dimension and pulling power and given new numbers:

554 to 306, Dismantled 1-35
555 to 305, Dismantled 12-27

Although similar to the earlier 1887 C-17s these last two were unique engines.