Revenue service in 1940 In the 1880s, the Denver & Rio Grande rapidly expanded following the conclusion of the
Royal Gorge War, with major construction projects along the
San Juan Extension, the
Chili Line, and the affiliate
Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway building a line through the Utah Territory. The first 2-8-0s delivered to the Denver & Rio Grande were built by Baldwin, becoming the D&RG's Class 60N locomotives. In 1881, orders were placed between both Baldwin and Grant Locomotive Works for more 2-8-0 locomotives. Grant was only the second non-Baldwin locomotive builder the Rio Grande had purchased locomotives from, with a single imported
Fairlie locomotive from the Vulcan Foundry Co. from
England as the only non-Baldwin locomotive on the Rio Grande prior. 223 was delivered alongside 23 other Grant-built locomotives later that year to the Denver & Rio Grande. Grant built Class 60Ns were different than their Baldwin counterparts with shorter smokeboxes, unique frames, and Grant style castings. 223 was initially assigned to work out of
Salida, Colorado, and in those early years was recorded as having operated trains as far as
Leadville, Colorado. The 223 and other Class 60Ns were premier power on the railroad, initially assigned to priority passenger and freight services. As they aged, the C-16s were gradually relegated to lower priority train services and branch line work, having been supplanted by more modern locomotives.
Display in Utah The railroad leased 223 to
Salt Lake City, beginning at the 1941 Pioneer Day celebration, for five years, and donated it to the city in 1952. The locomotive was given a fake diamond stack and an 1880s paint scheme in the Salida shops, before being sent to Salt Lake City. (A popular myth, caused by the mis-captioning of photographs, is that the 223 was moved on a special train led by four brand-new
FT locomotives which was actually
Rio Grande 268, which stopped in Utah on a 75th Anniversary Rio Grande tour in 1945 ). In 1952, upon the donation to the city, the Rio Grande's Salt Lake City shops removed the diamond stack and box headlight and repainted the 223 in its 1930s "button herald" paint scheme on their own time. Shipped along with 223 were a narrow gauge boxcar, caboose, and high-side gondola, which were sent to Pioneer Village in the
Lagoon Amusement Park in
Farmington, Utah. John Bush, then an employee of the Roaring Camp & Big Trees Railroad in California, was commissioned to make a report on the cost of potential restoration. Lack of budget limited success with the project and it was again transferred, to the Utah State Railroad Museum in 1992. In 2019, Steve Jones of the Golden Spike RLHS approached the
Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad (whose then president John Bush had written the earlier 1980 restoration proposal for 223) with a proposal that the railroad could help sponsor continued restoration efforts on 223. In October 2020, restoration of the 223 was officially halted. The State of Utah then expressed interest in moving the locomotive to a static display in Salt Lake City. An ownership issue between Salt Lake City and the State of Utah was resolved in April 2023, legally ensuring ownership of the locomotive was with the Utah State Historical Society. In October 2023, ownership was transferred from the Utah State Historical Society to the City of Ogden. At the time of the transfer, Ogden City officials expressed their hope to resume the locomotive restoration. Steve Jones head of the R&LHS Golden Spike chapter criticized the ownership transfer in a quote published in the
Standard-Examiner saying "Ogden City has not been very good at maintaining any of the collection. It's hard to tell what they're going to do with 223." On October 28, 2025, Ogden City announced a partnership to finish the restoration in conjunction with the
Colorado Railroad Museum. ==See also==