Syd Schofield

Editors note: Welcome to the seventh article of a series on narrow gauge by Syd Schofield. The previous article is available by clicking here, or by filtering with the category “Narrow Gauge”. Syd welcomes discussions and feedback, which can be made by clicking on the comment link at the bottom of the post.

Well into the Machine Age, when cast iron foundries and machine shops were as common as weaving mills and breweries, the narrow gauge locomotives had many folks involved in their creation and development. The wheel arrangements were many and varied, not so much for pulling power and speed as for the capability of the rail and support systems. The smallest possible wheel arrangement (prior to the imaginary Smokey Stover Fire Chief car or the modern gyro-stabilized Segway) was the 0-4-0 and the 2-2-2, the middle number(s) being the number of driving wheels, capable of pulling only minimal consists (in the later years the 2-2-2 served as the power plant configuration for VIP and inspection cars) lightly rolling on small rail and primitive roadbed. The largest was the 2-8-2 and the 2-6-6-2 that required significant infrastructure but could pull dozens of car consists.

Many small towns across the western US and Canada have token rolling stock in remembrance of the early days of the railroad. Some towns owe their existence, or certainly their growth and viability, to the lines powered by the now defunct steam locomotives. A few exhibits of historic locomotives have even outlived their towns or become part of disconnected amusement sites. Cimarron, Royal Gorge, Fairplay and Gunnison, Colorado all have good static displays of the several popular locomotives. And a few towns, Chama (NM) to Antonito (CO), Georgetown to Silver Plume (CO), Durango to Silverton (CO), and the now running K-37 at the museum in Golden (CO), Sugar Pine near Yosemite NP (CA), Roaring Camp near Santa Cruz (CA), Sumpter Valley near Baker (OR), Dawson to Whitehorse in the Yukon, all in the western US and Canada, have three foot gauge railroads running railfan trips.

The contrast in the sizes of the locomotives jumps out with the 2-8-0 Consolidation at the Fairplay, Colorado historic town site display on the west edge of town, and the hulking K-37 (which was originally built as a standard gauge locomotive). The Consolidation was a popular outgrowth of the 2-6-0 Mogul in both narrow gauge and standard gauge locomotives typically getting larger in addition to the extra set of drivers. The Fairplay locomotive with its eight small drivers (distributing the weight along a length of light rail as well as providing traction) looks like a miniature refugee from an amusement park when compared to other narrow gauge locomotives, but was adequate for the small consists in the high altitude South Park (CO) region. The K-37 (37,000 pounds of pulling force) struggles to fit inside the clearance plate for the tunnels and other structures. Both extremes (as well as the 0-4-0/2-2-2 and the 2-6-6-2 articulated) and everything in between are fair game for modeling on the modest home or club narrow gauge layout.