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Denver, Mesa & Gunnison No. 19

The Denver, Mesa & Gunnison Railroad is one of the more obscure railroads of the Western US. Founded in 1898, it initially ran between Grand Junction and Mesa, Colorado as a mining road. By 1910, it had reached Denver to the east and Gunnison to the southeast, pitting itself in a rivalry with the Rio Grande for all manner of rail traffic through the Rocky Mountains. At its peak, it operated about 400 miles of track, a surprising amount of which was electrified.

No. 19, an 1897 Rogers design, is typical of their early steam fleet. It and four sister engines carried the DM&G through its tumultuous early years, even as newer locomotives arrived to supplant them. Photos of the prototype show it was repainted black by 1916, but I've chosen to represent it in its more colorful as-delivered scheme. Surviving DM&G records indicate it was broken up for scrap during one of the World Wars, but I haven't been able to track down which.