Re: SV Replica

The D&RGW probably wasn't too worried about the Uintah articulateds being too heavy for their track, but the C&S was. Very much so. The C&S was interested in the Uintah 2-6-6-2Ts because at the time (1920's) they did not think the ICC would allow abandonment of the narrow gauge lines. So they asked Baldwin for quotes on similar locomotives, but with conventional tenders. They were especially interested in using the 2-6-6-2s on the Clear Creek lines, but either way, the bridges and much of the rail would have had to be upgraded to carry the weight. So the C&S dragged it sfeet. By 1939, when the Uintah was abandoning, the C&S had abandoned the South Park Line from a point southwest of Denver to Fremont Pass (Climax), and the traffic on the Leadville - Climax line was being handled by the three largest 2-8-0s, and the Clear Creek lines and stub of former DSP&P had little traffic, and could not justify the cost of improvements to allow operation of big power. The Clear Creek lines were abandoned in 1941, and the Leadville - Limax line standard gauged in 1943.
Aside from the SV, the D&RGW or maybe the East Broad Top might have gotten real use out of the articulateds. I'd say they went to a logical user, who got good mileage out of them. I do regret that the D&RGW didn't buy them - as I say, I think they would have made good helpers out of Sargent for heavy coal trains, or on eastbounds climbing Cumbres Pass. Or maybe working the Monarch switchbacks...
Charlie Mutschler
-30-