Built as Florence & Cripple Creek #8 by Baldwin in 1896, this locomotive was named "Goldfield". It was one of eight 36" narrow gauge 2-8-0s owned by the railroad hauling freight north from a D&RG connection in Florence, CO, up Phantom Valley to the Cripple Creek mining district west of Pikes Peak. Ore then came south from the mines for milling in Florence or transfer to the D&RG to mill in Pueblo, CO. One of the first railroads in this mining district, the F&CC also rostered six 4-6-0 Ten Wheelers for passenger services. However, the railroad began to struggle as competition grew from standard gauge arrivals. The line was finally abandoned in 1917 and the equipment was quickly sold to other narrow gauge operators including the D&RG, which bought six of the eight original Consolidations. #8 was renumbered #428 by the D&RG and then #318 by the D&RGW in 1924. In 1953, it was sold to Morse Brothers Machinery & Supply Co., in Denver, CO, and the following year went to Alamosa, CO, for display at the Narrow Gauge Motel. It was bought by the Colorado Railroad Museum in 1958. Weighing 72,000 lbs, 64,000 lbs on its 38" drivers, it has 16" x 20" cylinders, an 14.6 sq ft grate and 87.5 sq ft firebox. Operating at a boiler pressure of 145 psi delivering 16,606 lbs tractive effort.
F9 #5771 is coupled with cabless F9 B unit #5762 (originally DRGW #5753). The D&RGW bought four F9 A units from EMD in 1955 (#5531, #5571, #5771 & #5774) and four F9 B units (#5772, #5773, #5753 & #5763). #5771 hauled freight and passenger services between Denver, CO, and Salt Lake City, UT. #5771 and its two B units (#5772 & #5773) were also the primary power for the Rio Grande Zephyr, the last non-Amtrak long distance train in the US after the Southern ceased running the Southern Crescent from New Orleans in 1979. Between December 1983 and March 1984, they powered the D&RGW'S Ski Train, which ran fifty-six miles from Union Station in Denver, CO, to the ski resort of Winter Park and return each day. The train was inaugurated in 1940 and climbed about 4,000 feet passing through thirty tunnels including 6.2 mile Moffat Tunnel, the highest railroad tunnel in the US. After their short stint on the Ski Train, the two units performed a little more general service and were then retired. At that time, #5571 was the last operational F unit on the Rio Grande. They were donated to the Colorado Railroad Museum by the Southern Pacific, successor to the D&RGW, in 1996. #5771 is 50' 8" long and weighs 230,000 lbs. #5762 is 50' long and weighs 228,00 lbs. A Winton 567C 16 cylinder prime mover drove a 1,750 hp GM D12D generator in both units to power four GM D37 traction motors delivering 40,000 lbs continuous tractive effort at 9.3 mph with a top speed of 65 mph. Ninety-nine F9 A units and one hundred and fifty-six B units, including forty-six built by GMD in Ontario, Canada, were produced by between 1953 and 1960. They were the last in a long line of EMD units designed to haul freight (the "F" stood for freight) starting with the FT in 1939. In total, four thousand, seven hundred and thirty-six F A and two thousand, nine hundred and six F B units were outshopped.
