Rio Grande Steam Locomotives (Since 1900)

Published: November 4, 2026

Coal, helpers, and a main line that climbed instead of going around the mountains shaped the engines. George H. Drury’s table of Denver & Rio Grande Western steam locomotives built since 1900 prints a quantity column of 435 on the standard gauge, Shay included, and 48 on the narrow gauge. Engines built before 1900 are not covered here.

Rio Grande 4-8-4 1800 with the Scenic Limited at the Hanging Bridge in the Royal Gorge, summer 1945

Rio Grande 4-8-4 1800 (M-68) with the Scenic Limited at the Hanging Bridge in the Royal Gorge, summer 1945. Otto Roach photo. American-Rails.com collection.

On this page: At a glance · How the classes were numbered · Freight · Passenger · Narrow gauge · Where the chapter disagrees · Roster

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Denver & Rio Grande Western. Company page
Scope	George H. Drury, locomotives built since 1900. Pre-1900 engines are not added
Standard gauge	435, including Shay 4 and 5
Narrow gauge	48. The K-27, K-28, K-36, and K-37 are 45 of them
Frames	483, each once
Last new steam	4-6-6-4s 3710–3714, Baldwin, 1942
Last standard-gauge steam	2-8-0 1151, Alamosa to South Fork and return, December 26, 1956
Diesels	554 owned frames. Roster

How the classes were numbered

The Denver & Rio Grande was incorporated on October 27, 1870, as a narrow-gauge railroad aimed at El Paso. The first spike went down in Denver on July 28, 1871. In 1878 the road and the Santa Fe fought over Raton Pass and the Royal Gorge. Rails of the Denver & Rio Grande and its Utah affiliate joined in the Utah desert in 1883, three-foot gauge from Denver through Pueblo and Marshall Pass to Salt Lake City and Ogden. The Denver & Rio Grande Western was independent in 1886. Denver & Rio Grande control returned in 1901, and the Rio Grande Western was merged in 1908 into the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad.

The 1908 merger brought a general renumbering. A second renumbering came in 1923. Classes used the wheel arrangement and the tractive effort. A third rail went down in 1881, Denver to Ogden was standard gauge by 1890, and by 1906 the narrow gauge was marked off at Alamosa, Salida, and Montrose.

Denver sits at 5,198 feet. Palmer Lake, 7,237 feet, is 52 miles away. Pueblo is 4,672. Tennessee Pass is 10,240, Grand Junction 4,583, Green River 4,076, Soldier Summit 7,440, Salt Lake City 4,233, and Ogden 4,293. Much of the main line is 0.6 to 0.7 percent. The west slope of Tennessee Pass is 3 percent. The west slope of Soldier Summit was 4 percent, and a relocation in 1912 and 1913 brought it to 2 percent. Coal was the principal commodity.

No United States Railroad Administration locomotives were allocated in the First World War. The 2-8-8-2s of 1923, class L-107, are copies of that design, and they are in the table as Rio Grande engines. A 2-8-8-8-2 was drawn up and not built: 34-by-32-inch cylinders, an 80-square-foot grate divided by a Gaines wall, and Walschaert valve gear. It is not a row.

Freight

The road bought no new switchers after the three Alcos of class S-33, numbers 60–62. The table dates them 1908. Twelve engines of a fifteen-engine 0-6-0 order went to the Western Pacific instead. In 1937 the Salt Lake shops took the lead truck off 2-8-0 1013 and made an 0-8-0. The experiment was not repeated, and 1013 stays inside the Consolidation row.

Consolidations are the long freight list, 151 engines in the quantity column. Class C-48, numbers 1131–1178 and 1180–1199, were the last 2-8-0s built for the Denver & Rio Grande: 57-inch drivers, piston valves, and Stephenson gear. Class C-41, numbers 1000–1029, had been Vauclain compounds, originally 1101–1130, and were simplified in 1909. The Mikados are classes K-59 and K-63, 24 engines. The Santa Fe type is one Brooks order, class F-81, numbers 1400–1409. The chapter prose gives them as 1250–1259, Brooks 1916, 428,500 pounds, with Vanderbilt tenders later replaced. The table prints 1400–1409, 1917, and this roster follows the table.

The first Mallets were compound 2-6-6-0s. Class L-62, numbers 3300–3307, had been 1050–1057. The table dates them 1909. Class L-77, numbers 3360–3375, is the Denver & Salt Lake group, quantity 16, former 200–209 and 211–216. Engine 210 has no Rio Grande number. On the Denver & Salt Lake, 200–209 were 0-6-6-0s and 211–216 were 2-6-6-0s. Lead trucks had been applied from 1912, and the Rio Grande row types the whole group as 2-6-6-0. The merger date is April 11, 1947. The same addition brought Mikados 1220–1229, former 400–409, and Consolidations 1031–1039. Ten-Wheeler 302 became Rio Grande 795. Number 303 was assigned 796. Both were scrapped in July 1948. The since-1900 table prints 795 only.

The 2-8-8-2s begin with class L-96, numbers 3400–3415, originally 1060–1075. The table names the builder Alco. The chapter prose says Schenectady, which was an Alco works. Class L-107, numbers 3500–3509, Richmond 1923, are the government copies. Class L-109, numbers 3550–3564, fifteen engines, are former Norfolk & Western Y-2s, built 1918–1924. The chapter places the purchases in 1943 and 1948. The built years in the table stay the construction years.

Numbers 3350 and 3351 are a different Norfolk & Western pair: 2-6-6-2s, class L-76, Schenectady 1916. The chapter also says the road bought two Norfolk & Western 2-6-6-4s, in 1943 and 1948. Those 2-6-6-4s are not the L-76 row, and they are not given their own line in the table.

Brooks delivered class L-131, numbers 3600–3609, in 1927, and they were the world’s largest locomotives when they arrived. The chapter prose calls that class L-125. Schenectady delivered class L-132, numbers 3610–3619, in 1930. The prose calls that class L-127. The table classes are the ones in the grid. The last of them, 3609, 3612, and 3619, ran until November 1956 and then went to Pueblo for scrap.

The Challengers are three rows. Class L-105, numbers 3700–3709, Baldwin, simple, 70-inch drivers, were the Grand Junction to Salt Lake City engines. The table and the caption on 3703 date them 1938. The chapter prose says 1937. Numbers 3710–3714, Baldwin 1942, used a Worthington heater instead of an Elesco, and they were the last new steam the road bought. Class L-97, numbers 3800–3805, Alco 1943, were leased from the Defense Plant Corporation. They were painted and lettered Rio Grande and they were not purchased. The retirement cell is blank. The note sends them to the Clinchfield in 1947.

Two Shays, numbers 4 and 5, class Y-33, came from the Copper Belt. They sit with the standard-gauge list, just above the narrow-gauge header.

Passenger

Ten-Wheelers and Pacifics are 55 engines in the quantity column, counting 795. Class T-31, numbers 750–759, had been 1001–1010, were renumbered in 1908, and were simplified in 1909. They had 67-inch drivers and weighed 214,080 pounds. The Brooks Ten-Wheelers 760–793 are class T-29, and the table notes that 763 and 777 were class T-31. Pacifics 800–805, class P-44, had been 1001–1006, also with 67-inch drivers.

The Mountains are five rows. Class M-67, numbers 1501–1510, Brooks 1922, had 63-inch drivers, 28-by-30-inch cylinders, and weighed 377,000 pounds. Class M-78, numbers 1511–1520, was the same engine with a booster, for Grand Junction to Salt Lake City. A second M-67 group, 1521–1530, worked Salida to Grand Junction. Four Mountains, class M-69, numbers 1550–1553, were Norfolk & Western 206–209, Roanoke 1926, and were sold in 1948. The chapter sends them on to the Wheeling & Lake Erie. The three-cylinder Baldwins, class M-75, numbers 1600–1609, had 67-inch drivers, three 25-by-30-inch cylinders, and weighed 419,310 pounds. Drury calls them the heaviest 4-8-2s until the Illinois Central engines of 1942.

Northerns close the passenger list. Class M-64, numbers 1700–1713, Baldwin 1929, had 70-inch drivers and worked passenger trains between Denver and Salt Lake City. Class M-68, numbers 1800–1804, Baldwin 1937, had 73-inch drivers, roller bearings, and vestibule cabs. Number 1800 is the engine at the Hanging Bridge.

Narrow gauge

Three outside-frame Consolidations came from the Crystal River, a 1916 purchase of engines built in 1900 and 1903: class C-21, numbers 360 and 361, and class C-25, number 375. The Copper Belt note belongs to the Shays, not to these three.

The Mudhens are class K-27, numbers 450–464, Baldwin 1903, built as Vauclain compounds. Later they were simple, with 17-by-22-inch cylinders, superheat, piston valves, and Walschaerts gear. Drury gives their tractive effort as 27,000 pounds. They are the K-27 page.

Class K-28, numbers 470–479, Alco 1923, had 44-inch drivers, 18-by-22-inch cylinders, and 27,540 pounds of tractive effort. The railroad called them the Sports Model. They are the K-28 page. Class K-36, numbers 480–489, Baldwin 1925, had 44-inch drivers, 20-by-24-inch cylinders, 36,200 pounds of tractive effort, and weighed 187,100 pounds. The retirement cell names 1955 and number 485. They are the K-36 page.

Class K-37, numbers 490–499, used boilers from the standard-gauge C-41 Consolidations of the 1000–1029 series. The table names the builder as the Denver & Rio Grande Western and the years as 1928 and 1930. The chapter prose says Burnham Shops. The retirement cell names 1955 for 496 and 1963 for 490, and the note says many K-36s and K-37s were still in service when the table was printed. That note is the table’s. The engines are the K-37 page. What remained of the narrow gauge went to the Durango & Silverton and the Cumbres & Toltec.

By 1956 only a few standard-gauge steam engines were left, mainly switchers and helpers on the Moffat route. The last standard-gauge steam run was 2-8-0 1151, Alamosa to South Fork and back, on December 26, 1956.

Where the chapter disagrees

The grid follows the table. The chapter prose uses other years or other class numbers for some of the same engines, and those differences are the ones named above: 60–62, 950–964, the K-59s, the F-81s, the L-62s, L-96, L-131, L-132, and the first L-105s. A blank note or a blank retirement is an em dash. Retirement years are the span the table prints, including a cell that names one year and then another.

Roster

The standard-gauge quantity column sums to 435. The narrow-gauge column sums to 48.

Standard gauge

Type	Class	Numbers	Qty	Builder	Built	Retired	Notes
0-6-0	S-23	20–22	3	Schenectady	1900	1928–1936	—
0-6-0	S-33	50–54	5	Baldwin	1906	Sold 1942–1943	—
0-6-0	S-33	55–59	5	Baldwin	1907	3 sold 1943; 2 scrapped 1952	—
0-6-0	S-33	60–62	3	Alco	1908	1944–1952	—
2-6-0	G-28	592–597	6	Schenectady	1901	1926–1937	—
2-8-0	C-38	900–903	4	Richmond	1900	1936	—
2-8-0	C-39	915	1	Baldwin	1912	1937	—
2-8-0	C-39	916–925	10	Baldwin	1905	1936–1941	—
2-8-0	C-40	930–934	5	Baldwin	1901	1945–1946	—
2-8-0	C-40	940–944	5	Richmond	1901	1936	—
2-8-0	C-41	950–964	15	Baldwin	1900	1936–1946	—
2-8-0	C-41	1000–1029	30	Baldwin	1902	1937–1952	Simplified 1909
2-8-0	C-42	970–973	4	Richmond	1900	1929–1936	—
2-8-0	C-43	1031–1039	9	Schenectady	1906–1910	1937–1955	Ex-D&SL 111–113, 118–123
2-8-0	C-48	1131–1178	48	Schenectady	1906, 1908	1946–1956	57-inch drivers. Last 2-8-0s built for the D&RG
2-8-0	C-48	1180–1199	20	Schenectady	1906	1949–1956	—
2-8-2	K-59	1200–1213	14	Baldwin	1913	1938–1955	—
2-8-2	K-63	1220–1227	8	Lima	1915	1948–1956	Ex-D&SL 400–407
2-8-2	K-63	1228, 1229	2	Schenectady	1916	1952, 1956	Ex-D&SL 408, 409
2-10-2	F-81	1400–1409	10	Brooks	1917	1952–1955	—
2-6-6-0	L-62	3300–3307	8	Schenectady	1909	1947–1952	Originally 1050–1057
2-6-6-2	L-76	3350, 3351	2	Schenectady	1916	1952, 1950	Ex-N&W
2-6-6-0	L-77	3360–3375	16	Schenectady	1908–1916	1947–1952	Ex-D&SL 200–209, 211–216. 210 omitted
2-8-8-2	L-96	3400–3415	16	Alco	1913	1944–1951	Originally 1060–1075
2-8-8-2	L-107	3500–3509	10	Richmond	1923	1947–1951	USRA copies
2-8-8-2	L-109	3550–3564	15	Baldwin, N&W	1918–1924	1947–1951	Ex-N&W. The fifteen Y-2s
2-8-8-2	L-131	3600–3609	10	Brooks	1927	1955–1956	—
2-8-8-2	L-132	3610–3619	10	Schenectady	1930	1955–1956	—
4-6-6-4	L-97	3800–3805	6	Alco	1943	—	To Clinchfield 1947. Leased, not bought
4-6-6-4	L-105	3700–3709	10	Baldwin	1938	1951–1956	70-inch drivers
4-6-6-4	L-105	3710–3714	5	Baldwin	1942	1951–1956	Worthington heater. Last new steam
4-6-0	33	795	1	Schenectady	1905, 1907	1942, 1948	Ex-D&SL 302
4-6-0	T-24	530–533	4	Schenectady	1901	1927–1928	—
4-6-0	T-29	760–793	34	Brooks	1908–1909	1926–1951	763 and 777 were class T-31
4-6-0	T-31	750–759	10	Baldwin	1902	1926–1939	Built as 1001–1010. Renumbered 1908. Simplified 1909
4-6-2	P-44	800–805	6	Baldwin	1913	1949–1953	Originally 1001–1006
4-8-2	M-67	1501–1510	10	Brooks	1922	1950–1955	63-inch drivers
4-8-2	M-78	1511–1520	10	Brooks	1923	1952–1955	Booster. Grand Junction–Salt Lake City
4-8-2	M-67	1521–1530	10	Brooks	1923	1949–1955	Salida–Grand Junction
4-8-2	M-69	1550–1553	4	N&W	1926	Sold 1948	Ex-N&W 206–209
4-8-2	M-75	1600–1609	10	Baldwin	1926	1941–1949	Three cylinders
4-8-4	M-64	1700–1713	14	Baldwin	1929	1950–1956	70-inch drivers. Denver–Salt Lake City passenger
4-8-4	M-68	1800–1804	5	Baldwin	1937	1952–1954	73-inch drivers, roller bearings, vestibule cabs
Shay	Y-33	4, 5	2	Lima	1905, 1906	1926, 1936	Ex-Copper Belt

Narrow gauge

Type	Class	Numbers	Qty	Builder	Built	Retired	Notes
2-8-0	C-21	360, 361	2	Baldwin	1900	1950, 1951	Ex-Crystal River
2-8-0	C-25	375	1	Baldwin	1903	1949	Ex-Crystal River
2-8-2	K-27	450–464	15	Baldwin	1903	1939–1953	Vauclain compound. K-27
2-8-2	K-28	470–479	10	Alco	1923	1946	K-28
2-8-2	K-36	480–489	10	Baldwin	1925	1955 (No. 485)	K-36
2-8-2	K-37	490–499	10	D&RGW	1928, 1930	1955 (496), 1963 (490)	Many K-36s and K-37s are still in service. K-37

Sources

George H. Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, Denver & Rio Grande Western chapter. The table is locomotives built since 1900. The chapter names the Rio Grande Modeling and Historical Society and Locomotives of the Rio Grande (Colorado Railroad Museum, 1980).
Don Strack, Utah Rails, for Denver & Salt Lake 302 and 303 becoming 795 and 796, and for the July 1948 scrap date. The Drury table prints 795 only.
Robert G. Athearn, and United States Tax Court dockets 43783–43786, for the Denver & Salt Lake merger of April 11, 1947.
Don Strack, Utah Rails, “Rio Grande in Colorado, 1870–1880,” for the incorporation of October 27, 1870, and the first spike of July 28, 1871, citing Robert A. LeMassena, Robert G. Athearn, and O. Meredith Wilson.
Locobase 6823, for the 2-8-8-8-2 that was drawn and not built. It is not a row in the table.

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Rio Grande Steam Locomotives (Since 1900)

At a glance

How the classes were numbered

Freight

Passenger

Narrow gauge

Where the chapter disagrees

Roster

Standard gauge

Narrow gauge

Related Reading

Sources