John--Great summary of the K37's, 497 in particular. I fired for George Connor on the first test run of the 497 after its restoration in the D&S shop--a caboose hop to Hermosa. As you know, the fire box on those engines is longer than the K36's and doesn't slope downward in front. I had heard that the K37's were best fired heavily toward the front, so, keeping in mind the length of the fire box, as we left town, I began heaving coal as far forward as I could. Unfortunately, and unknown to me, because I was throwing it at a downward angle, as you would on a K36, it was hitting the grates and piling up about two thirds of the way toward the front of the fire box. As soon as I noticed that, I began trying to heave it over the mound, which resulted in it hitting the brick arch and getting deflected down, just about on top of the mound. I think we had left the yard a little behind on steam, and by time we topped out at 36th street, the steam was down around 175--this with an essentially light engine. I wasn't too concerned, as there was nothing but level track ahead for a couple miles. With continued shoveling, the steam gage seemed to be stuck around 170. Somewhere out by the glider air strip, the guys on the caboose signalled for a stop. It seems there was a hot box on the caboose. While everyone was checking that out, I had a peek in the fire box and discovered a mound resembling the tomb of the unknown soldier right in the middle of the fire box. It was huge. Naturally, in the excitement of getting under way with a newly-shopped engine, we left the yard with no clinker hook, so I had no way to reach in and knock the mound down. So I just turned up the blower and eventually, as the guys were repairing the journal bearing on the caboose, the mound burned itself down and the steam pressure came back. I don't remember going on to Rockwood, so we must have backed back into town. I felt like a rank beginner, but luckily no one on the consist was paying any attention to what was going on with the fireman.
I believe I was assigned as engineer the first week the 497 entered passenger service on the D&S. Boy was that a miserable engine to run. The throttle was impossible--either wide open or closed. Spotting tanks was a nightmare. If you came up short, you'd have to put one foot on the backhead and jerk the throttle with both hands to get it open, then slam it shut and go for the brake lever. Earl Knoob made a great recording of the 497 with Dave, The Sandman, Elwood fighting that throttle, I believe at Hermosa Tank. I would love to have seen a video of that. I think that first week I ran the 497 was when I decided we had to re-design that throttle. After that week on the 497, I was assigned the 481, and it felt like going from a Sherman tank to a Mercedes Benz.
By the time I built the new throttle for the 497, I was pretty much a persona-non-grata in the D&S operating department, having quit one too many times in the summer to go back to sea, so I only got to run that engine for a couple miles on one trip with the new throttle. It seemed much improved, but I think I could have made it even better had I had an opportunity to operate it a little more and get a feel for what improvements it might need.
It'd be great to see the 497 or, even better, the 492 back in service, but it sure doesn't seem likely any time soon.
