Steam & Excursion > A Colorful Interloper Arrives At This Steam Operation!

When lumber companies would buy out their neighboring competitor lumber companies they would at times obtain certain certain interesting rail rolling stock and motive power. Such was the case her.

In the early 1950's The Pacific Lumber Company of Scotia, California bought out it's competitor in the redwood industry, the Dolbeer & Carson Lumber Company of Carson, California. As part of this sale TPL acquired the remaining steam locomotives of the D&C company.

In this fine color photo, taken in the Scotia enginehouse yards of The Pacific Lumber Company we see TPL's 90-ton Baldwin Mike #35 staring face to face with newly arrived former D&C Heisler #3. This colorful Heisler had originally been built for the Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railroad out of Mill Valley, California. She was the last locomotive purchased by that tourist line the climbed the twisting track up Mt. Tamalpais north of San Francisco.

D&C #3 did operate for a short time for her new owner TPL but was soon replaced by the same diesels that retired the rest of the TPL fleet of steam logging lokies.

Even though she was new to the TPL operation, it was this Heisler that was chosen to be put on display in the town of Scotia as a reminder of the steam powered logging history of the region. She was painted up as TPL #9 (a number she never operated as at TPL but was her number on the MT&MW RR.). Today she still is on display in Scotia, but the folks in Mill Valley have been trying to return her to their town as she is the very last piece locomotive left from the MT&MW RR.

Only time will tell if this little boomer will move once again.

Martin



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/17 12:26 by LoggerHogger.

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Color photos from these locations are rare. To have a color photo and the backstory to go with it make this even better.
Thanks for sharing this.
Bob

What color is the engine now on display? Is that the style of the MT&MW other engines also? Looks ugly.

PlyWoody Wrote:
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> What color is the engine now on display? Is that
> the style of the MT&MW other engines also? Looks
> ugly.

On display #9 is painted black with TPL markings.

Martin

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I have heard that in many instances size is what defined which locomotive was selected for display. Part of it could have been due to scrap value, but I have heard it also came down to how much space the loco takes up. That's why so many SP 0-6-0's were saved. The larger the locomotive, the harder it is to find space for it. The heisler looks like it fits nicely on their display site.

On a different note, according to Jeff Moores roster of Pacific Lumber locomotives( http://wx4.org/to/foam/shortlines/pacificlumber/tpl_roster.html ), the 35 still exists and is for sale. Maybe the people of Mill Valley should buy it to trade for the Heisler. But it won't fit in the display spot (same problem as noted above).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/17 13:01 by wingomann.

Dolbeer & Carson Lumber Co. was founded and owned by John Dolbeer and William Carson. It was never located in Carson, Calif. The main mill was always located in downtown Eureka, Calif. Their timberland was virtually all located in Humboldt County. John Dolbeer died in 1902 and William Carson died in 1912.

SierraRail Wrote:
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It was never
> located in Carson, Calif. The main mill was always
> located in downtown Eureka, Calif.

The Railroad shops and main camp for D&C was called Carson.

Martin

Posted from iPhone

PlyWoody Wrote:
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> What color is the engine now on display? Is that
> the style of the MT&MW other engines also? Looks
> ugly.

Mt. TamalPAIS engines were painted a deep red with gold lettering. There was one other Heisler, the rest were Shays, none survive, although two went to the Philippines.

I haven't seen the Heisler in some years, I hope it's in the same shape that it was because it
looked like someone went out and dusted it every morning! That facility was pretty incredible
just because of sheer size and how much was still extant into 2000.

Out

Look at the drive wheels on the Baldwin. . . .

They look like they are double flanged. . . . !!

Or blind? A lot of logging locomotive had them.
Luke

Posted from Android

The "Carson" to which Martin refers was up the North Fork of the Elk River southeast of Eureka. As per Carranco & Sorensen's Steam In The Redwoods, it was Brown's Camp, then later renamed Carson's Camp. The site is now the Elk River Boy Scout Camp:

https://goo.gl/maps/AiesUgW9nMs

Here are some fantastic 1947 Shuster aerial shots of Carson's Camp in the Humboldt State Library:

http://library.humboldt.edu/humco/holdings/collection_images/shuster/large/2001010808.jpg
http://library.humboldt.edu/humco/holdings/collection_images/shuster/large/2001010809.jpg
http://library.humboldt.edu/humco/holdings/collection_images/shuster/large/2001010810.jpg
http://library.humboldt.edu/humco/holdings/collection_images/shuster/large/2001010811.jpg

While the shops and roundhouse are long gone from what is now that open grassy area, it appears a couple of the buildings along the north edge of the clearing might be original from the camp.

It should be noted that Dolbeer & Carson came to this camp late in its life. D&C initially (1896) logged mostly in the Fieldbrook area, northeast of McKinleyville. The company shipped its logs south towards Eureka on John Vance's Humboldt Bay & Trinidad Railroad. Vance later sold out to A.B. Hammond, who set the railroad up as the Oregon & Eureka; however, William Carson resented Hammond entering the redwood industry, and because of that D&C built its own railroad, the Humboldt Northern, from a log dump on the Samoa Peninsula just north of Samoa north through McKinleyville to Fieldbrook, plus a branch into Arcata. D&C operated this line until 1930, when they exhausted their timber reserves in the area, at which point they sold the Humboldt Northern to the Hammond Lumber Company, and most of that line continued operating until Hammond successor Georgia Pacific shut the logging line feeding their Samoa mill down in 1961. The D&C then moved onto the Elk River drainage, where they purchased the old Bucksport & Elk River Railroad, which became the nucleus of their logging railroad up until Pacific Lumber took them over in 1950. PALCo shut Camp Carson and the logging railroads it supported down in 1953.

Also for the record, the Dolbeer & Carson mill sat on what now mostly vacant land underneath the Highway 255 bridge to Samoa towards the north end of Eureka:

http://library.humboldt.edu/humco/holdings/collection_images/shuster/large/2001010114.jpg

Lastly, it's been quite some time since I sent that roster to E.O., and I don't remember now from what source I gleaned that the #35 might have been for sale, though that was the same time period the Nevada Southern was actively marketing parts of its collection in inherited from the old Heber Creeper that didn't otherwise fit with its location or collection, such as the Sacramento Valley & Eastern 2-6-2T repatriated to northern California. The museum has since cosmetically restored and painted the #35:

http://www.deejay51.com/nevada_state_museum.htm

I agree with the assessment it has blind center drivers in the original shot, pictures of it now in Boulder City show flanged tires on all drivers.

Edited once to add a picture of the 9 I shot in March 2014.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/17 23:22 by JDLX.

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Thanks Martin, That is sure nice to see such a fine display of the Heisler and I thank the others for the interesting data and links of this nice thread.

Luke, you are right. TPL #35 does indeed have a pair of blind drivers in the photo as was common for many logging 2-8-2's. She had flanged driver tires installed on her center drivers while she was operating in passenger service at Heber, Utah.

Since some folks had not heard of the Dolbeer & Carson Camp and shops known as Carson, here is a photo showing the front of the shops with D&C Baldwin 2-6-2's #3 and #2 inside.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/17 04:33 by LoggerHogger.

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