C-21 project

I’d like to make a decent drawing (set) of the D&RGW C-21s - 360 and 361 – for a couple of reasons. First, the narrow gauge community could use a good (readily available) C-21 drawing as there’s not much out there. Secondly, besides the 3D K-36 modeling I’ve been doing off and on (which I'll get back to, off and on), I’ve been sucked into actual scale modeling after 35 years away (Sn3 now, used to be HOn3 – man, this stuff is STILL small). I’ve been working on a couple kits to get warmed up and plan to scratch build some rolling stock. With a son in college and a daughter soon to be I can’t afford motive power ($500 - $1500) so I thought I’d scratch build that too, starting with something simple like a C-21 . I hope I‘ve got the chops to build it (think I do, we’ll see) and if it takes me a couple years, fine. Anyway, I’ll need a really good drawing.

C-21 material available that I know of:

Of course, first off I scoured the forum archives for anything C-21, finding lots of nuggets.

CRRM sent me some AFEs (sparse info) and some photocopies of C-21 photos, as well as the C-21 Folio sheet (Folio 7-9{1925}). The folio has some good information and dimensions, however the driver spacing as drawn is wrong (dimensions correct though) and really it's just a general schematic. I also stopped by the library last time I was in Colorado and got a copy of a John Maxwell tracing of the Baldwin erecting card for Crystal River 101-102 that appears in Dorman’s “Gunnison” book. If the Maxwell collection was available, this tracing would be drawing # L-18. Nice drawing but still needs more detail, as-built 1900 configuration. Also in the Maxwell collection are two drawings – D-137 and D-137t (plan view of tender) – probably as the C-21s appeared towards the end, drawn by Maxwell about 5 years after the engines were scrapped (1950-51). Haven’t seen these, I imagine they are comparable to D-139, a Maxwell drawing of the K-36s, not bad, a little sparse on detail but decent dimensions, elevations and sections, somewhere between basic folio sheet quality and a good Model Railroader style drawing. Also, according to their catalog, Precision Scale Models has a C-21 cab detail drawing available, will be ordering that, probably part of a larger set they had done for a brass production run.

I also purchased ($$!) a copy of the erecting card for CR 103 (D&RGW C-25 375) from the DeGolyer Library at SMU, nice collection, but no CR 101-102. This turns out to be a pretty good source for frame details as compared to the C-21s. Driver spacing identical between the two classes. Frame rail center-to-center spacing identical. C-25 driver diameter 7/8" less than C-21. Dimension from #4 driver to drawbar pin identical. #1 driver to cylinder centerline 9” longer on C-25, cylinder centerline to engine truck wheel center is identical. Cylinder length the same. Engine truck looks the same. So lots of good info there.

No specifically C-21 drawings at DPL. 1909 locomotive cyclopedia from Googlebooks has a lot of nice info from that period which may be helpful as far as typical/standard locomotive design practices are concerned.

There are a number of good photos of 360 and 361 online (drgw.org) and available from DPL as well. With a few known dimensions I can apply a grid overlay (in perspective) over some of these photos and determine other dimensions with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Haven’t seen any detail shots, with the exception of a frame/driver close-up that Dave Grandt posted a while back. Hard to tell much about frame details directly under the cab and front footplate, for example. Doubt if people were taking too many detail shots back before 1950 anyway.

I got the Crystal River Pictorial which has a few nice shots, also the Narrow Gauge Pictorial XI has some really nice shots – good ¾ and near profiles. Not sure what’s in Narrow Gauge Pictorial I regarding C-21s.

Have ordered the Burlington Bulletin #41 which has an extensive article and a drawing (?) of CB&Q 537, which is somewhat similar to the C-21s. My son goes to U. of Iowa in Iowa City, ‘bout an hour north of Mt. Pleasant, home to The Midwest Central RR and CyZ #1, also a soulmate to the C-21s. I’ll try to take a road trip someday to see (and photograph) what I can see. Should be a valuable source of structural details.

So, that’s what I know. There have been several brass models produced over the years, somebody had to prepare drawings for those. I don’t want access to those drawings (yeah, sure), I just want to follow a similar methodology to create my own. In the end I wouldn’t mind making a few bucks off this endeavor (yeah, sure) but I will share with the forum, showing progress as I go. Please feel free to provide feedback, share photos and information, argue over dimensions, debate headlight configurations, and so on. I'll be posting questions and observations as I go as well.

Thanks for reading,
Mike McKenzie