Re: Rio Grande NG, N de M Standard Gauge

The counterweights are different from the NG ones. There is no way to install a counterweight on a driver. It is one big casting.

About the only thing saved in the conversion to SG might have been the side frames themselves. New frame crossties would have been made as the original frames were too far apart to be used in Standard gauge. New cylinders were installed, the valve gear hangers were changed. New axles made and new driver centers created. The Rushton trailing truck may have been saved, but the truck frame would have been narrowed to convert to SG.

It was a huge job to do this, especially in the 1950's. Obviously NdeM had the foundry and shop facilities to essentially create a new locomotive utilizing a 50 year old boiler.

They spent a lot of pesos to create a 55-ton standard gauge 2-8-2.