Steam & Excursion > Did You See A Boarded-Up Steam Locomotive Working Hard?!

Well, now you have.

This rare move took place on September 30, 1966 on the Pickering Lumber Corporations railroad near Twain Harte, California. Pickering had run it's last log train nearly a year earlier in December, 1965. The line had laid dormant for most all of the next year.

New Highway construction would soon sever the line near where this photo was taken by Jim Wren. Pickering decided to park 2 of it's remaining Shay locomotives and a number of cars up the line near Lyons Lake in the hopes that the upper part of the line could be saved and used as a tourist operation.

On this day EMD #102 and 3-truck Shay #7 were hauling a cut of cars up the line to be stored at Gurney. While Shay #7 had been boarded up for her storage she was also fired up to help in the move upgrade. She is working hard on this part of the line and we see one of her crew in the doorway enjoying the view.

A week after this interesting move the decision was made to move #7 up to Lyons Lake Still boarded up, she made that move under her own power.

All in all not something you see every day.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/18 04:03 by LoggerHogger.

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Thanks Martin for the 1st version of a " All Weather Cab "

Many, many years ago (40+), I was deer hunting in the Lyons Lake area and came across a steam locomotive that seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere in the forest. Could it possibly have been one of these? Would it still be there?

This is what you would have seen. Both #7 and #33 stored at Lyons Lake.

I took this photo in 1974.

Martin

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What would it look like today?

And then in 1971, a bunch of us crazies worked like mad all spring so we could run the #7 on a special passenger operation over the Labor Day Weekend between Lyon Lake and Middle Camp Road. I can still hear the whistle in the canyon. After that, the #7 has not steamed again.

Howard

Martin,are the Caboose in your colour photo, now stored in Jamestown.They look familiar.Would love to see the Jamestown ones restored.
Regards,DK

To Howard's and Karl's and the rest of the group of crazies efforts, the ride was uhh, interesting? It wasn't going to be
very touristy for what it was but it was a good start. It was too bad it didn't run farther to give people a better look at
the opper line. One of the problems was that you couldn't see the forest for the trees!

Out

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#7 is now stored at Railtown in Jamestown, while #33 is stored at the Timber Heritage Assn. outside of Eureka.

Here is a short taste of Shay 7's whistle in the canyon. Please pardon all of the literary nonsense on the recording but I couldn't upload it as an audio file. I recorded this in stereo at Big Rock Cut. The final long whistle is just before the train arrived at Lyons Lake. Turn your speakers up. :-)

Howard

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I'm trying to type something coherent (why start now?) -- but I'm speechless. That sound...

~ BZ

Beautiful! Thank you, Howard!

Howard,

You mean in all of these years that I've known you (as a diesel guy), you're secretly a steam fan! :-)

Dave

kilroydiver Wrote:
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> Howard,
>
> You mean in all of these years that I've known you
> (as a diesel guy), you're secretly a steam fan!

Guess I'm busted. :-)

Howard

sp5623 Wrote:
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> Here is a short taste of Shay 7's whistle

An absolute bone chilling recording. Makes me ponder on what steam sounds were like in Dunsmuir back in the day.
Thanks Howard

Thanks for the photos , Martin. Any idea what kind of whistle on that loco making that wonderful sound ?

Thanks Howard for the whistle recording. Really makes me smile.

Glad to hear these locos got saved.

Craig Hanson
Vay, Idaho

sp5623 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is a short taste of Shay 7's whistle in the
> canyon. Please pardon all of the literary
> nonsense on the recording but I couldn't upload it
> as an audio file. I recorded this in stereo at
> Big Rock Cut. The final long whistle is just
> before the train arrived at Lyons Lake. Turn your
> speakers up. :-)
>
> Howard

Wow..... That's amazing. We just steamed up the mini version of the Pickering on Sunday. If only the whistle sounded like that!

~RM

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rwmorrisiii Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> sp5623 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Here is a short taste of Shay 7's whistle in
> the
> > canyon. Please pardon all of the literary
> > nonsense on the recording but I couldn't upload
> it
> > as an audio file. I recorded this in stereo at
> > Big Rock Cut. The final long whistle is just
> > before the train arrived at Lyons Lake. Turn
> your
> > speakers up. :-)

Beautiful....any more pics please.
Regards,DK
> >
> > Howard
>
> Wow..... That's amazing. We just steamed up the
> mini version of the Pickering on Sunday. If only
> the whistle sounded like that!
>
> ~RM

hawkinsun Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the photos , Martin. Any idea what
> kind of whistle on that loco making that wonderful
> sound ?
>
> Thanks Howard for the whistle recording. Really
> makes me smile.
>

The whistle in my recording was a Southern Pacific 5 chime.

Howard



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/18 15:20 by sp5623.

Isn't Big Rock Cut on the West Side? It is a beautiful whistle wherever it is.