No. 473 is crossing the Animas Timber Bridge just south of Silverton. The bridge is scheduled to soon be replaced by a steel and concrete open deck design. This is one of the last trains to cross the timber bridge.

In 1874 Silverton's town site was laid out and it soon became the center of numerous mining camps. In addition to the miners, Silverton caught the eye of a railroad company in Denver. In July 1882 the first train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad rolled into Silverton from Durango.

473 was one of ten K-28 locomotives built by the American Locomotive Works in Schenectady, New York in 1923. All ten engines which were called the Sport Models and were sold to the Rio Grande Railroad.