Rio Grande Southern Railroad Engine No. 20
Jefferson County
Placed in service in 1899 on the Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad (F&CC), Engine No. 20 survives as one of only three F&CC steam locomotives in Colorado. After abandonment of the F&CC in 1912, the Rio Grande Southern Railroad (RGS) purchased the engine for use on its mountain route from Durango to Ridgway, where it remained in service until the end of RGS operations in 1951.
Rio Grande Southern Railroad Engine No. 20 (1957 photograph.)
A rare surviving example of a ten-wheeler type narrow gauge steam locomotive, these "third generation" narrow gauge locomotives were particularly well suited for hauling passenger trains on the sustained grades typical of mountain railroading in Colorado. No. 20 is one of three known examples of the ten-wheeler type narrow gauge locomotive in Colorado.