472 and 498 in Salida

There is no mistaking this profile, Denver & Rio Grande Western K-28 class "Mikado" number 472 is part of one of the most distinctive groups of narrow-gauge locomotives to ever polish the rails in the United States. The trim outside-frame 2-8-2 was built by the Schenectady plant of the American Locomotive Company, construction number 64983, in 1923. Crews affectionately referred to the K-28 class as "Sport Models" and they were often assigned to passenger trains such as the "Shavano" and "San Juan." Number 472 was photographed freshly overhauled and ready for the snow outside the shops in Salida, Colorado in 1940. Coupled behind her is K-37 class 2-8-2 "Mikado" type number 498. The number 472 would serve the Denver & Rio Grande Western until 1942 when she was requisitioned along with several sisters for service on the White Pass & Yukon Route in Alaska where she became number 252. At the end of the war she was deemed surplus and scrapped. However, numbers 473, 476, and 478 are preserved on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in Durango, Colorado, as is K-37 number 498.

Original photo taken by L. S. Brown.