Steam & Excursion > A Very Freshly Displayed Steam Locomotive But Not Freshened Up!

Placing steam locomotives on display after they were phased out for new diesels became somewhat common place in the the 1950's and early 1960's.  Usually this meant a locomotive being sent to the railroads shops to be given fresh paint and polish with fresh lettering so she looked her best once she was mounted on her display site.  Such was not always the case, however.

In October, 1960 when the West Side Lumber Co. of Tuolumne, California ran it's last steam powered log trains, the narrow gauge railroad was not being replaced with diesel locomotives but rather by new heavy trucks.  The railroad simply ceased operations.  Only 2 clean-up runs were made in June, 1961 and after that the Tuolumne rail yards were home to rows of silent Shay Locomotives.

In 1960, West Side's new owner, Pickering Lumber Corp. donated an aging 2-truck Heisler for display in Tuolumne's town park.  When 1964 rolled around Pickering was convinced that the log trucks could be trusted to permanently replace the logging railroad.  In the spring of 1964 Pickering picked out one of the Shays in the Tuolumne deadline and trucked her to near-by Sonora for display at the entrance to the County fairgrounds.  As you can see here, they chose 3-truck Shay #7 for this honor.  #7 had not run since the end of the logging season in 1958 when Camp 45 was shut down and the reload moved closer to town.

In this instance, Shay #7 was not treated to a "freshening up" as were most park display locomotives.  To the contrary, a simple black paint brush was used to black over the old West Side Lumber lettering on the engines tender.  When she was fist place on her display stand, she was clearly displayed as an "in service" logging engine and not a park queen. In later months she would receive lettering showing her to be donated by Pickering Lumber and a protective fence would be erected around her.

Regardless of her initial display, her preservation for future generations worked.  In 1977 Glen Bell of Taco Bell fame had purchased the West Side mill grounds and yards then operated as the West Side & Cherry Valley Ry.  He purchased #7 from the town of Sonora and returned her to operation back in the mill yards where she had once worked.  When the WS&CV closed in the early 1980's 37 was purchased by the Roaring Camp & Big Trees RR out of Felton, California where she continues in service to this day along side former West Side Heisler #3.

When Pickering first put Shay #7 on display in her "in service" appearance, could they have ever known that 50 years later she would actually be in service and freshly painted and polished just as she should have been when first put on display?

Martin



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/16 05:31 by LoggerHogger.

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Drove by that engine many a time going up to Sonora for school or shopping with mom. 

My father and I were talking about this engine on Mother's Day. He worked for the City of Sonora when I was growing up and he and a few other workers had to move the tracks from narrow to standard gauge for the arrival of Pickering No, 3 from Standard. I had to fill him in on the details of No. 7 but he remembers all that happening.

Tom

Oh boy Martin this is interesting,whom ever took your picture must have been standing pretty close too dad...lol...We may have a slight time line issue though...I believe your Sonora Fairgrounds photo was taken a year later in the spring of 65..My dads slide was dated March 65....Both photos are so close even the yellow sign in the for ground is present.

In his second photo of Westside #7 She is sitting in the Westside yards and we have a date of August 64...I have a whole series I will post soon of all the Locomotive shays sitting idle.

Picture 3 is dated July 78,we see #7 under restoration... 


Sorry about the quality of the Pictures...My Photo-Shop is locking up my Computer...Damm....so the usual touch up and Watermark are missing
Mike Jr



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/16 23:01 by spicolli1864.

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CherryValley and Westside #7 dated Summer 1981 
And a little bit of history from the 1981 season 

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The 490.875 I believe is the Radio frequency they were using..(the little scribble on the face of the brochure)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/16 23:18 by spicolli1864.

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Mike,

Thanks for adding so much to my post.  I love the photo in 1978 of #7 being restored in Tuolumne.  I love how they sanded her tank down to read the old WSL lettering.  Great memories seeing #7 back home for a few years at Tuolumne.

Martin