Steam & Excursion > Rekindling a nearly half-century-old acquaintance

Next month it will be 49 years since I first became acquainted with the McCloud #25 as it pulled the Vernonia, South Park & Sunset Steam Railroad's two-day charter train excursion over the Lookout to Mt. Shasta portion of the Portland-Wishram-Bend-Lookout-Mt. Shasta-Eugene-Portland route.

IIRC Malin Johnson was the fireman that day and, to my great joy, he offered me his seat so that I could fire the 25 for Ray Piltz heading up the hill out of McCloud. We had a couple Baldwins shoving against the round-end observation.

In the second photo is "The View From My Office" as yesterday I had the pleasure of becoming reacquainted with the 25 while firing for Brandon Thompson on the first two trips of the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad's service day and then running the third trip which raises the count of the number of steamers I've had the pleasure of running up to a baker's dozen. I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to become an OCSR crew member and look forward to many good days ahead as they continue to acquire and rebuild more locomotives.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/17 02:23 by Jim700.

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Jim,

We are certainly very pleased to have you and your experience to call on at OCSR. Welcome aboard!

Martin

Thank you, Martin. I enjoyed getting to work with Brandon yesterday. Being really interested in steam, several years ago he had asked me about getting on at the Washington Park & Zoo Railway where I'm in my 14th year. I had to give him the sad news that they were not hiring at the time and would not likely be doing so for several years. At that time I suggested to him that he check out the OCSR. I pointed out that in spite of the drive to Garibaldi being considerably longer than to the zoo, it offered two advantages to him over coming to the WP&Z in his quest for steam: 12"-scale and the opportunity to obtain a locomotive engineer license. The rest is history as the OCSR has become the recipient of his many talents.

Jim,

You will have to come down on September 30. 1917 when Brandon and I reprise the "Lawyer Limited" for the Northwest Rails charter.

Having 2 lawyers in the cab may deter some folks but i know you are up to it.

Martin

Jim, I look forward to riding with you once again, this time on the OCSR.

What is the Maker of that injector ???

Thanks. Malcolm New Zealand

MMD Wrote:
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> What is the Maker of that injector ???

Malcolm, I didn't pay any specific attention to the injector other than being grateful for how smoothly it worked. Just looking at the picture I'd say it's a Nathan Simplex Lifting Injector. I was told that it had recently swapped sides of the cab because the one that had been on the fireman's side was, though still workable, becoming quite ornery and in need of rebuilding before long.

Many thanks Jim, we used Sellars lifting injectors in New Zealand.

Malcolm

H'mmm... two lawyers and a steamer.

'Must be a sinister plot in there somewhere. LOL

-- Greg