Re: 346 number plate on Ebay

You're all correct, to a point.
The number plate on e-bay is an original reproduction.
They were, as mentioned before, cast and sold by the railroad museum.
Keith, I hate to tell you, but for the record and for a fact, the 346 has its original number plate. The plate on 346 is not a repro or a replacement of any sort, but an original. How do I know? When I first started volunteering at the Railroad Museum back in the late '60's, I took Fred Oster aside and asked him about the rectangular D&RGW number plates. He showed me something on the 346's plate, and Keith, I recommend that you do the same. If you look closely behind the numbers "346", which are painted on and not cast, you will see the faint outline of where the original number of the locomotive "406", in a different typeface, was ground off of the plate (they look like casting pits but they are definitely visible). You can see the typeface on the number plate of the 404 on page 25 of the Museum's "Locomotives of the Rio Grande" book.
Don't believe everything that you hear...
Rick