Steam & Excursion > Hard to Believe This Line Was Nearly At It's Very End Of Life!

Judging by the neat and trim condition of this 3-truck Shay switching the mill, one could easily conclude that this railroad was in it's heyday. However you would be quite wrong in that assumption.

The date is June 2, 1938 and the narrow gauge Shay #1 we see here belongs to the Swayne Lumber Company of Oroville, California. This will be the last season of logging for the line. All too soon the mill will be silent and the rolling stock of this narrow gauge logger will be up for sale to other owners.

Shay #1 will find a new home and another 10 years of operation on the Michigan-California operation out of Camino, California. Swayne's fleet of 100 skeleton log cars would all be sold to the West Side Lumber Co. where they would continue to haul logs until October 1960.

Rather than the heyday of it's life this luck photographer caught the very sunset of this narrow gauge loggers life.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/18 03:35 by LoggerHogger.

---

Interesting Shay. I looked it up in Hirsimaki's "Lima, The History." Built in 1926 as Lima's 3302 at a whopping cost of $21,735 and produced 25,830 pounds of TE from three 11x12 cylinders. Only 52 more Shays were built after it. But even more interesting is that it was built by Lima as Swayne #6 so a some point there was a general renumbering. After checking with "Shaylocomotive.com" I confirmed Hirsimaki's information and learned that it's still with us. It did a stint on the Georgetown Loop as their number 12 and is currently stored at the Colorado Railroad Museum.

You have your Shays confused here.

The Shay in the photo is Lima c/n 2926 built in 1917. She originally was Swayne #3 but then became Swayne #1 as we see here. She was sold to Mich-Cal as their second #1.

Lima 3302 that you reference was built 1in 1926 as Swayne #6. She then became West Side #12 and that engine still exists today at the Colorado RR Museum.

Lima c/n 2926 shown here was scrapped by Mich-cal.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/18 06:34 by LoggerHogger.

Sort of messed that up, didn't I.

Sorry about that.

The WSL #12 is nearly identical as NML #7, the last ng Shay built, now at Heston, IN. Both of them should be working trains up Cumbres from Chama.
Cumbres has seen three-truck Shays before, guess which ones.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/18 07:52 by PlyWoody.

She would have seen Silverton Railroad #269, but that was a 2-truck Shay.

Martin

Like #6, #1 is unique in having home-grown piston valves.

PlyWoody Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The WSL #12 is nearly identical as NML #7, the
> last ng Shay built, now at Heston, IN. Both of
> them should be working trains up Cumbres from
> Chama.
> Cumbres has seen three-truck Shays before, guess
> which ones.

I'd like to know, myself. NMLCo #7 came and went dead in train. I believe Pagosa Lumber Co. had a Shay at one time. Then the Silverton RR/ RGS had that small 2 trucker in the 1890's. I seriously doubt any crossed Cumbres under their own power.

Earlk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PlyWoody Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The WSL #12 is nearly identical as NML #7, the
> > last ng Shay built, now at Heston, IN. Both of
> > them should be working trains up Cumbres from
> > Chama.
> > Cumbres has seen three-truck Shays before,
> guess
> > which ones.
>
> I'd like to know, myself. NMLCo #7 came and went
> dead in train. I believe Pagosa Lumber Co. had a
> Shay at one time. Then the Silverton RR/ RGS had
> that small 2 trucker in the 1890's. I seriously
> doubt any crossed Cumbres under their own power.


Not to hijack this thread, I have posted the history of Shays over Cumbres in the History section:
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/list.php?11