Denver & Rio Grande Western No. 484 is a K-36 narrow-gauge 2-8-2 built by Baldwin in 1925.
The locomotive was part of the ten-engine K-36 class that became central to Rio Grande narrow-gauge freight operations.
The design’s power made it suitable for steep mountain routes where train length and tonnage had outgrown earlier locomotive classes.
No. 484 worked in commercial Rio Grande service until the narrow-gauge network contracted in the late 1960s.
The 1970 preservation of the Antonito–Chama section transferred 484 into the new Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad collection.
Because the railroad retained historic shops, track, rolling stock, and multiple locomotives, No. 484 could be preserved as part of an operating system rather than as an isolated museum object.
Cumbres & Toltec currently lists 484 among its operational steam locomotives.
The locomotive remains coal fired, which differs from the oil-conversion strategy adopted by Durango & Silverton and from C&TS No. 489’s oil conversion.
That difference makes 484 especially useful when interpreting historic coal-handling, firing, ash, and spark-management practices.
For TransitSatellite, current fuel type must be tied to the individual locomotive. K-36 does not automatically mean coal or oil; preservation organizations have made different choices for different engines.