Steam & Excursion > Sometimes Only After A Wreck These Locomotives Looked Their Best!

Some logging companies were not known for spit and polish on their logging motive power.  It was rare to even be able to read the company name on these engines after they had been working in the woods for a while.

One such logging company was the Oregon-American Lumber Company of Vernonia, Oregon.  Their Shay's, Willamettes and Baldwin lokies looked pretty dirty and dingy as they performed their logging chores on a daily basis.

Here we see and exception to this rule.  O-A #104 appears here at Camp Olson in good and neat attire.  Unfortunately this is simply the case because she has just returned from the SP&S shops in Vancouver, Washington where she had been repaired following a runaway wreck she was recently involved in.

All too soon she would once again be sporting the dirt and grime so common to logging steam motive power in the Pacific Northwest.

Martin



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/17 04:11 by LoggerHogger.

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Great job by the SP&S shop lads rebuilding the wreck damaged 104.  Do you have a date when this image was taken?

I like the New York air compressor also.
Luke

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/17 06:55 by LJohnson.

LJohnson Wrote:
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> I like the New York air compressor also.
> Luke
>
Luke,

I am surprised you did not comment on the Shay front pilot wheel.

Martin

cozephyr Wrote:
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> Great job by the SP&S shop lads rebuilding the
> wreck damaged 104.  Do you have a date when this
> image was taken?

In the book railroads in the woods she was wrecked in 1948 so after that.
Luke

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/17 12:25 by LJohnson.

cozephyr Wrote:
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> Great job by the SP&S shop lads rebuilding the wreck damaged 104.
> Do you have a date when this image was taken?


Well, apparently the shop lads in the Vancouver Roundhouse missed a problem.  Here's an entry dated August 24, 1948 in the SP&S Portland Hoyt Street Roundhouse 02/17/45 to 07/30/52 electrician's log noting that they had to replace the dynamo governor en route to Vernonia to resume its log hauling duties.

The wreck occurred on the morning of June 3, 1948.  The 104 with an empty oil tank car and 13 loads of logs was backing down a 6% grade about a mile west of Camp Olson when it was stopped for about five minutes by the section foreman who was making repairs to the track.  It was reported by all witnesses that it was stopped without the slightest difficulty (remember, these were disconnected-truck trains) but, upon resuming movement it quickly went to excessive speed and derailed about a half mile farther down the grade.  The fireman and a company timekeeper who was riding along in the engine were killed instantly and the engineer died within an hour.

Oregon-American was very short of power at the time due to multiple lokies being repaired in the shop at the mill in Vernonia and the insurance adjuster's foot-dragging for 7½ weeks caused them to have to extend the time of their temporary lease of of SP&S 0-6-0 #5.  Once they finally got the adjuster's okay for the repairs to begin it was less than three weeks in the Vancouver Roundhouse for repairs which cost just over $8,600 and it departed to Portland in the transfer on August 24th.  After the repairs to the dynamo at Hoyt Street Roundhouse were completed it returned to Vernonia under its own power.

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