Re: Boiler Problems, RGS No. 1, 1913

I'm thinking that the engines that became class C-17, as well as the former F&CC engines, were built with lap seam steel boilers. As they were not outlawed by the 1911 boiler law, they kept running. Looking at RGS 42 years ago in Durango, it appears to have been re-boilered with a butt-strap boiler. Without new boilers, the C-17's only had 145lb boiler pressure. A few of the C-18's were in the same boat. The ones that got upgraded to 160lb boilers may have had re-enforcing straps added to the lap seams. Once the big engines started coming in the 1920's they had little need for wimpy 145 lb boilered 2-8-0's.