Rio Grande No. 473

D&SNG No. 473 is a K-28 class 2-8-2 "Mikado" type narrow gauge steam locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO)'s Schenectady, NY works in 1923 for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG), later known as the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW), as part of an order for ten locomotives that would become the K-28 class. 473 weighs in at 70.8 tons wet, with 27,540 lbs. of tractive effort, and a top speed around 45 mph, a speed only a lunatic would ever try to achieve again. The tenders weighed in at just over 44 tons soaking wet, carrying 7.3 tons of coal, and 5,000 gallons of water.
The K-28s served across the D&RGW's 3 ft gauge system, in both passenger, and freight service. The class was frequently found working the road's named passenger trains, including the Shavano, the San Juan, and the Silverton. Due to their longer wheelbase, as compared to the earlier K-27 and later K-36 class locomotives, the K-28's earned a reputation for smooth riding at speed, which led to the class being nicknamed "sports models". 
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States feared a Japanese invasion through Alaska, across the Bering Strait. The narrow gauge White Pass & Yukon Route (WP&Y) in Skagway, AK was seen as a vital strategic asset, and the government rushed to bolster the line's logistics capabilities. The United States Army requisitioned seven of the ten K-28s for service on the WP&YR, leaving only Nos. 473, 476, and 478 behind. None of the locomotives sent to Alaska would return, with six being scrapped in 1944, and one, No. 470, sinking to the bottom of Seattle's harbor.
473 continued its duties through the war, and after. By the late 1940s, the Silverton branch had been discovered by Hollywood, and the K-28s suddenly found themselves in a number of film roles. The K-28s received false diamond stacks, and box headlamps, and 473 in particular also received the famous "Bumblebee" paint scheme during this time. As the largest engines then allowed on the Silverton branch, due to weight restrictions and clearance issues, the K-28s were the exclusive power for the Silverton, all the way until the end of Rio Grande operation of the line in 1980.
In 1981, under the new ownership of Charles Bradshaw Jr., the line was dramatically improved to allow for larger, heavier motive power, and for the first time, K-36s, and a K-37 made the trip. The K-28s also began to slowly lose the diamond stacks and box headlamps, and returned to a more as-built appearance, though with the later addition of new "coffee can" spark arrestors complete with Durango "Halo" water sprayers.
As of today, 473 remains a staple of Al Harper's Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNG) in Durango, CO, which took over the Silverton branch in 1997 when Bradshaw sold the line to Harper's "American Heritage Railways". In May 2021, 473 was converted to burn oil instead of coal due to the ongoing dry conditions in Southwest Colorado, where the D&SNG resides. The D&SNG also converted sister class K-28 locomotive 476 to an oil burner on May 25, 2022 and will soon be converting class K-28 locomotive 478 as of October 18, 2023.
In Durango Railfest 2009 to 2010. Engine 473 having Railfest for President’s train Around in DS Railfest 2013. 
== Trivia==
*473 once wore the Bumblebee scheme, sporting orange with black striping, a wider stack, and a more classical box-headlamp From Railfest 2003, to 2006 on Durango and silverton presidential train Railfest 2004.
*The locomotive appeared in the 1969 film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as Union Pacific No. 473.
*On June 25, 1987, a runaway truck loaded with 60,000 pounds of potatoes crashed into 473, which was sitting in the Durango yard, and knocked the locomotive eleven feet off the track as a result. Less than a month later, the locomotive was repaired and put back into service.
*In 2022, 473 had the name "Little Boy" written in chalk on the smokebox door. This is a reference to how the Union Pacific wrote the name "Big Boy" in chalk on the smokebox door of UP 4-8-8-4 No. 4014.
*473 has worn a couple different whistles during it's operating career on the Durango & Silverton. Right now it carries a D&RGW 3-chime.
*On October 19th 2024, 473 headed a Trains Magazine photographers special, relettered as scrapped sibling No. 477.
==Gallery==
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Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:Narrow-gauge steam locomotives
Category:Narrow-gauge locomotives
Category:Built in 1923
Category:American locomotives
Category:Rio Grande locomotives
Category:ALCO locomotives
Category:2-8-2 locomotives
Category:2-8-2 steam locomotives
Category:Eight-coupled locomotives
Category:Locomotives featured in media
Category:3 foot gauge
Category:Durango & Silverton locomotives
Category:Class K-28
Category:Locomotives
Category:Excursion locomotives
Category:Preserved steam locomotives