Good points Charlie, my comments below...
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The photos I have seen of the K-28's after the war would tend to support the theory that they were not in the best of shape. Let us remember, the Army's equipment got used hard, and probably didn't get the same tender loving care that it might have from the shop crews at Alamosa or Salida.
The military would not have put money into overhauling locomotives it planned to dispose of as surplus. In 1945 and 1946 there was a very small potential market for 36 inch gauge locomotives.
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The records show that the K-28s were used most. The new 190s proved to be inadequate for the terrain. They were designed for flatland use and while they were adequate for the Bennett to Whitehorse section, they couldn't pull much up the hill [90 tons] as compared with the K-28s [165 tons]
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The photos of equipment stored at the Auburn, Washington Army depot pending sale show some very tired looking equipment, including the hulks of the ex ET&WNC 4-6-0s, and the pair of C&S 2-8-0's. None of them look like they've had a recent overhaul.
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Both of the ET&WNC 4-6-0s were severely damaged in the Whitehorse Engine House fire on 24 Dec 43, soon after they were returned from overhual at the Tacoma shops, it's not surprising they look tired.
The C&S engines were only used for yard switchers.
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Questions I think that might be worth looking at are - did the Army offer any or all of the equipment they had on hand to the WP&Y? If so, why did the WP&Y choose to accept some, but not all of it?
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Yes, they wanted the WP&Y to buy all the 190s. In the final settlement two were purchased and the Army left all but three in Skagway for the WP&Y to do with as they wished. It's likely that the WP&Y could have kept any of the engines they wanted, however the K-28s were probably in serious need of overhual, the C&S engines would be of little use, and parts availability could have been an issue. In the final analysis the WP&Y wanted two more new 70 class engines which were designed specifically for the White Pass.
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How much would it have cost to ship any of this equipment from Auburn to a potential buyer?
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That's probably why only the three 190s which had the least use were sent to Auburn for sale and the rest scrapped.
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I think the D&RGW sold the equipment to the military in 1942, so it would have had to buy it back. With the management trying to kill off the remaining narrow gauge mileage, it seems unlikely that the D&RGW would have wanted to buy back the seven K-28's. By 1964, the time the D&RGW *might* have seen having more K-28's as a plus, it was too late, the government had sold them for scrap nearly fifteen years before.
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Exactly, and like Mike Trent commented the D&RGW would have been looking for any excuse to refuse them, regardless of the condition they were in. No doubt they could have been overhauled if someone would have had the foresight to see their potential value. However, the post war era was seen as the age of diesels and steam was considered obsolete. A lot of very useful and valuable equipment, not just steam engines, was scrapped after the war just because of the attitude of the times.
Mike Peltier
