~ The "C's" 'n "T's" from P-B-L ! ~

This page designed for 1024 X 768 viewing. Lower resolutions will cause it to wrap weird. Sorry.

This photo shows D&RGW #315, circa the 1940's, as she looked in "Durango Switcher" Service. Next to her is R.G.S. #42 as she looked in the mid-1940's also. If you had lived in Durango back then, you might have seen the two posed together like this a time or two, since they were contemporaries.

Notice how the #315 is a "C-18" Class lokie, while #42 is a "C-17". Though it's not easy to do a side-by-side comparison of the two in a photo, if you look closely, you'll see the two did NOT have a lot in common, although they were both steam engines and both burned coal.

Although both were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, just have a look at their wheel spacings. And of course, their appliances like Airpumps, Generators, Headlights, Dome sizes and spacings, and on and on and on.

And these two are merely the "tip of the iceberg"! Multiply their number by 10 and you'll come up with 20 reasons why guys like yourself find "Sn3" so appealing ! Though "similar", in that they are all Steam Locomotives, they're not the cookie-cutter stuff of which mainstream modeling is made up of these days.

They came from a time when designers and engineers, without the aid of computers, and craftsmen with what the world today considers primitive tools, constructed what they were convinced were creations that others could use to move freight over iron rails. Under all sorts of weather conditions, and many times over less than ideal track conditions too. . . And be maintained by guys whose only qualifications were they needed jobs and were willing to work. No rocket scientists or PHD's here, but a healthy dose of common sense helped.

They must have done "something right", because many of their creations still live on down to this day, on drive wheels over a hundred years old, with boilers under steam, and with crews as dedicated as they were when the things were created. Which, not incidentally, contributes mightily to the reason why so many books have been written on "The Narrow Gauge"; and why railroads like the "Durango and Silverton", and the "Cumbres & Toltec" Railroads still exist. ( I need to quit this ramblin' and get on with the program, right? )

Below you'll see icons you can click on to enlarge photos of our #315 Pilot Model, ( The #42 went back to Korea. ), and below that some photos of our upcoming "T-12" Class lokies too. We invite you to have a look-see at what we've been up to these past few months, and, keeping in mind these are PILOT MODELS, here for our examination and correction, pass judgement too, if you like.

But heck, that doesn't dampen our spirits one iota, does it ? Click on the photos below and you'll be treated to some photos you can actually see up close.