Re: K-37s Durango-Antonito Prior to 1949

Jerry Day found the answers to these questions from the files of the Colorado Railroad Museum. L. H. Hale, IIRC was a railroad official in Denver was curious about the motive power assignments. His answer came from Thomas J. Cummins of the superintendent's office in Alamosa. Bascially the 490 class engines were assigned to Salida because of the extra tonnage they could pull plus ease of turning the locomotives as Marshall Pass.
Mr. Cummins was familiar with locomotive performance because he was an engineer. Born in either 1892 or 1893 he was hired as a locomotive fireman on 11-9-1909 and promoted to engineer on 9-24-1918, the same day as the other Tom Cummins, T.V. Cummins. T.J. Cummins became an official in the early 1940s. He held several official positions in both Alamosa and Salida. As an fireman and engineer, T.J. Cummins worked the former Fourth Division of the Rio Grande.
A separate note, the 490s' tenders held 6,000 gallons of water and the cistern was a slightly different shape then the 5,000-gallon tanks on the K-36s. This made them easier to turn on the turntable at Marshall Pass.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2012 03:09PM by CharlieMcCandless.