Steam & Excursion > In The Back Of The Shop If You Were Lucky You'd Find One Of These

By the late 1950's most railroads locomotive shops were taken over by fleets of new diesels as the only motive power for the lines.  This was also true of the handful of logging railroads that survived the conversion to truck logging following WW-2.  Fortunately there were certain exceptions to this rule.

Even though the Coos Bay Lumber Co. of Powers, Oregon had received a brace of EMD diesels to power their logging trackage in the mid-1950's, they still had some trackage that was better suited to the lighter axle loading of their big ALCO 2-8-2T's.  For that reason they kept a couple such steamers on the roster even after the diesels arrived.

In late December, 1956 Jerry Hanson visited the big Coos Bay Lumber machine shop in Powers, Oregon not knowing what he might find in the way of motive power.  Sure, as he entered the huge wooden structure, the unmistakable outline of EMD diesel power greeted him as his eyes adjusted to the limited light inside.  However, there, off to the back of track #2 was the reassuring outline of active steam motive power in the form of CBL #11, one of the 4 of those large ALCO 2-8-2s that had been so popular with the Coos Bay Lumber crews.

As fate would have it, #11 would continue to see active service out of this shop for another 10 years until finally being donated by the company to the Southwest RR museum in San Diego and today in Campo, CA.

Jerry did not even bother wasting his film on any of the EMD's parked in the shop that night.  He wisely spent his whole roll of film and flash on ##11.  I can't blame him.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/17 03:44 by LoggerHogger.

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It's a hobby, and people can and should spend their time and "film" as they please.  Looking at it from the perspective of a railroad historian, though, I'll wager there are many, many, many more pictures documenting the life and times of Coos Bay #11 in the world than there are of both Coos Bay Lumber SW1200's put together.  When the subject of those oddball, dynamic-brake-equipped, "torpedo boat" switchers came up a few months back, the only photos I could locate of either one online wearing Coos Bay Lumber lettering were builder's photos.  Even photos of them lettered for Georgia Pacific aren't common. 

Looking at it from the perspective of a railfan well versed in the dogma of seeking out "rare" subjects "nobody" has shot so my pictures will be "important" (har har) I recall how I once visited the Dardanelle & Russellville facility in North Dardanelle, AR and was tickled pink to see one of their ancient but brightly painted SW1's stuffed into their even more ancient wooden enginehouse.  To borrow some phraseology from Winston Churchill, it was an antique, wrapped in an incongruity, inside an anachronism, an unlikely combination that appeals to people who go in search of uncommon subjects.  Now, this was 1992, and the D&R didn't change much for a decade or more on either side of my visit, so lots of people probably have the same picture.  The same can't be said for Coos Bay Lumber SW1200's in the house at Powers.

I don't blame Jerry for not shooting the diesels that day in 1956, but I sure hope someone did.

Don't worry Evan.  There were folks like Stan Tyles who trained their cameras on the Coos Bay EMD's in 1956.  There are photos of the EMD's out there, you just need to know where to look for them.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/17 06:17 by LoggerHogger.

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         Would we normally call that a 2-8-2T ?

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
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>          Would we normally call that a
> 2-8-2T ?

The proper term for these built by ALCO is "ALCO saddle tank Mike".  They are often called "Minarets" given the fact that the first examples of these were built for the Sugar Pine Lumber Co. that also operated the Minarets & Western Ry out of Pinedale (near Fresno), CA.  However only the sole 2-10-2T that ALCO built was officially called the "Minaret Type" by ALCO as it was special built for the Sugar Pine Lumber Co.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/17 07:19 by LoggerHogger.

Yup, why shoot diesels, they all look the same, right?

Out

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Current, #11 is at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo, CA - under cover - and undergoing an examination to a return to operation.  All volunteers welcomed.

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
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> It's a hobby, and people can and should spend
> their time and "film" as they please.  Looking at
> it from the perspective of a railroad historian,
> though, I'll wager there are many, many, many more
> pictures documenting the life and times of Coos
> Bay #11 in the world than there are of both Coos
> Bay Lumber SW1200's put together.  When the
> subject of those oddball, dynamic-brake-equipped,
> "torpedo boat" switchers came up a few months
> back, the only photos I could locate of either one
> online wearing Coos Bay Lumber lettering were
> builder's photos.  Even photos of them lettered
> for Georgia Pacific aren't common. 
>
> Looking at it from the perspective of a railfan
> well versed in the dogma of seeking out "rare"
> subjects "nobody" has shot so my pictures will be
> "important" (har har) I recall how I once visited
> the Dardanelle & Russellville facility in North
> Dardanelle, AR and was tickled pink to see one of
> their ancient but brightly painted SW1's stuffed
> into their even more ancient wooden enginehouse. 
> To borrow some phraseology from Winston Churchill,
> it was an antique, wrapped in an incongruity,
> inside an anachronism, an unlikely combination
> that appeals to people who go in search of
> uncommon subjects.  Now, this was 1992, and the
> D&R didn't change much for a decade or more on
> either side of my visit, so lots of people
> probably have the same picture.  The same can't
> be said for Coos Bay Lumber SW1200's in the house
> at Powers.
>
> I don't blame Jerry for not shooting the diesels
> that day in 1956, but I sure hope someone did.

Another example of this is when a small army of photographers flocked to Douglas, Arizona to catch the last steam locomotive on an SP affiliate -- engine 3406 on the Nacazori Railway. Yet no one to my knowledge bothered to photograph the South Line which passed through Douglas. This heavy-duty main line featured block signals and 79 mph running, and as late as 1959, the year 3406 was retired, featured numbers 1 and 2, the Sunset Limited, and numbers 3 and 4, the Golden State. Photos on the South Line are as rare as hen's teeth, and I have never seen a photo of train at Crook tunnel, just west of Douglas, while the railroad was a through main line. Photography of No. 2 and No. 3 through the area would have been possible, as No. 2 passed Douglas at 11.20AM and No. 3 at 6.50PM. Also, there was scheduled freight 960.

Like you said, it's a hobby, and I'd probably be in Mexico shooting this last bird as well, just like all the steam junkies going through withdrawal. But at the same time a significant piece of the Southern Pacific went virtually undocumented, and abandonment east of Douglas was but 2 years away when the fire was dropped on 3406. 

About 5 years ago an original color slide popped up on Ebay from what I remember as being an estate sale. It was a photo looking out the vestibule at the head-end. The seller had no clue as to where and when it was taken. I'm assuming it was some non-rail fan on vacation who on the spur of the moment decided to take a photo of the desert. As I studied it, it was clear it was the Sunset Limited, and the head end had Daylight E7s. It was healing through a right-hand curve splitting a pair of double-double lower-quad semaphores. I determined that it was taken between Acacia and Cazador, as I've explored the area many times and have some crude track charts. Thinking no one would recognize its significance, I put in a sizable bid, confident I would bag it. Turned out to be an absolute feeding frenzy, and I lost. Clearly there are other obsessed South Line folks lurking out there.

The point being its unfortunate that motive-power myopia has robbed the hobby of significant aspects of the railroad (and I'll plead guilty to this charge). I'm sure that a photo of No. 2 about to enter Crook tunnel, or a color photo of No. 3, with the magnificent Chiracahua mountain range in the background, would generate more interest today than another photo of 3406 trundling down to Nacazori.