Re: Doubtful, but Never say never

The K-37's are great steamers and will pull a tonnange freight all day at a leisurly 12 mph. The D&S runs trains a lot faster than this thus they are'nt as desirable as the other K's. At higher speeds the 490's are hard on track and tend to kick out curves and pound the rail.
The 497 was the easiest engine to keep hot on the C&TS, if you were just a few pounds short of lifting the safeties, three scoops of coal right in the middle of the firebox would often do the trick. If you got 10-20 lbs down you could bring it back up in as little as 5 minutes. Having the extra grate area from it saturated days made this possible.
Operationally, the K-37's were hard on tall fireman as it is hard to throw coal 2 feet further than on a K-36 when the fire door is on the floor. If you were much over 6 foot it might be nearly impossible to get the coal where it was most needed. In addition the 490's liked the heel of the fire on the front of the firebox as opposed to the rear on a K-36.
The throttle and reverse lever arrangement required some serious muscleing and crews often didn't like them when compared to the other available power.
With all that said, I really enjoyed my times firing and running the #497. It took me a little while to figure the old girl's temperment out, but once I knew what she wanted she was a very honest engine. The 498 was the favorite K-37 of several former Rio Grande men I have spoken to. It would be nice to see it up and running someday...