Racing a 120 year old Steam Train || Cumbres & Toltec || Rio Grande 463

Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad (Denver and Rio Grande Western) No. 463 is a 3-foot narrow-gauge class "K-27" 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam railway locomotive built for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG) by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1903. It is one of two remaining locomotives of D&RGW class K-27, the other one being No. 464 at the Huckleberry Railroad in Genesee Township, Michigan. The class eventually became known by the nickname "Mudhens". Today, No. 463 is operational on the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad between Chama, New Mexico and Antonito, Colorado.Show more

Fifteen locomotives were built, originally class 125, then reclassified K-27 in 1924 when the D&RG became the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW). The K-27s were built as Vauclain compounds, with two cylinders on each side, expanding the steam once in the smaller cylinder and then a second time in the larger one. The extra maintenance costs of the two cylinders were greater than the fuel saving, so they were converted to simple expansion in 1907–1909.[2] They were Rio Grande's last purchase of compound locomotives. They pulled freight, passenger and mixed trains on the D&RGW in and over the Colorado Rocky Mountains, traversing the entire length of the railroad. They were built with their main structural frames outside the driving wheels, with the counterweights and rods attached outside the frames.