Re: Rail weights versus axle loads in the 1870's

Decisions to cancel locomotive orders were made by the railroad, not the builder. I would say Baldwin finished the locomotive and was ready to ship her when the decision was made by the D&RG to cancel. In some cases a railroad was unable to make the payments and a locomotive was repossessed by the builder, who then had to find another buyer. I haven't checked on the original Mosca, but most of the class 56 locomotives that went to the D&RG were actually the property of a trust, perhaps the result of the D&RG not making payments for equipment at the time of the 1873 panic. The trusts were the Philadelphia & Colorado Equipment Trust and the The Colorado Rolling Stock Trust Series A for the class 56s. Railroad cars were acquired the same way in the late 1870s and 1880s.
Dave