Re: D&RGW C-16 Design Question - Part 1

That spot on the engine is very hard to see, particularly after 1910 or so when they installed driver brakes and they put a hanger and shoe in the space! Add to that the fact that most photos are front 3/4's and that area is usually in shadows and it makes it very difficult to see.
The large equalizer of picture B was the way the engines were at the end of their operation, at least the ones I know.
There is a photo of 278, taken in the 1880s/90s on Page 40 of the 1970 Colorado Rail Annual, which is a perfect side shot, albeit very small. It is actually a picture of the anthracite coal breaker at Crested Butte with 278 in the foreground. What does show clearly in the photo is the blacked leaf spring of version A: No equalizer. Obviously the locomotive came that way from Baldwin. I would bet it was changed but when it was changed is anyone's guess.