Steam & Excursion > The Very Last Run For The Very Last Of Her Kind!

Nothing brings our railfans like the last run of any train or locomotive. That maxim proved true on April 4, 1964 when the very last Shay in logging service in the United States ran for her last time.

Once there were literally thousands of Shay locomotives in service all around the United States. Their design for rough and uneven track coupled with their ability to pull incredible grades made them indispensable for many applications none the least of which was for logging railroads. These unique qualities enabled many of them to stay in service long after most all railroads in the U.S. had long ago retired their steam fleets.

It fell to the Klickitat Logging & Lumber Co. of Klickitat, Washington to ring the curtain down on the very last operating Shay locomotive in logging service in the U.S.. The steep grades on this 18-mile railroad had prevented the incursion of diesels to replace the last 2 Shays left on the roster. While 3-truck Shay #5 rarely saw service in the latter years, the daily run to the reload for logs to feed the Klickitat mill was handled week in and week out by Pacific Coast Shay #7.

Unfortunately all good things come to an end and such was the case for KL&L #7. April 4, 1964 was set to be the last run of the Shay and the publicity for this event was carried nationwide in the newspapers. A string of gondolas and a couple SP&S cabooses were to make up the last train. The cargo for this run was to be the hundreds of railfans and officials that came out to experience the "Song of The Shay" for one last time.

The guests were treated to a couple of run-bys along the way as we see in this photo. On that day there was a dedication ceremony where it was announced that after this last run Shay #7 would live on as she was being donated to the Western Industries Forest Museum for their new Camp 6 museum in Tacoma.

#7 is still with us and will run again in the future. She ran at Camp 6 until the 1990's and when the Camp 6 Museum was disbanded in 2011 she was sold to Chris Baldo of Willits, California where she is today in his enginehouse being refurbished for yet another career in steam.

#7 has proved that "Last Runs" are not always last runs!

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/15 03:25 by LoggerHogger.

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Great photo and background caption (what else would we expect?).

The guy in the glasses is actually the first one in history to ever 'photo-bomb' a shot! Geesh.

Craig
http://mcmrailvideos.com/

Good stuff Martin! Those of us who were there in those days can certainly tell that it's Norman Elsner at the throttle! I'd recognize that old floppy hat anywhere! I met him many times and can't remember him ever being without it!

Norm continued to volunteer and run #7 after she was set up at Camp 6. Here he is with #7 in Tacoma in a nice Steve Thompson photo.

Martin

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Interesting pilot step arrangement. Is there a plow behind the steps?

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

Mike,

Yes, that is indeed a plow behind the steps. Some Shays were outfitted with these factory plows. Here is a shot of Kinzua Pine Mills Shay #3 with her plow attached.

These plows not only handled snow on the lineat Klickitat, but they would also move aside the piles of bark that accumulated at the brow log after the logs were all dumped.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/15 09:04 by LoggerHogger.

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Martin, are you saying a Shay can out-do a diesel on steep grades?

So #7 is in Willits, being re-built?? Where do they plan on running it??

There are several options where she will run.

Martin

Thanks for the extra plow photo. I had not seen any shays with a plow attached until now. It's the perfect engine for it really, much less likely to get bogged down than a rod engine.

Mike Massee
Tehachapi, CA
Photography, Railroading and more..

Thanks Martin for great photos and especially the history research that you do and post. I hope that you don't mind that I add a link here of my fathers photos that he took on that last trip.
Thanks,
J. Dean Sheldrake

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3336477,3336477#msg-3336477

Great set of photos. Thanks for sharing them again.

Martin

As I read Martin's post that is what he indicated. 1964 Shays and diesels back then.

John