Steam & Excursion > The Shop Crews Had Their Work Cut Out For Them Here!

Not only did the railroads call on their locomotive shop crews to keep the lines steam locomotives operable with routine maintenance and periodic boiler and running gear re-builds, they also had to be ready to fix the damage that could happen to these engines in serious derailments and wrecks.  Such was the case as we see here.

The Long-Bell Lumber shop forces had plenty of work ahead of them when the wrecking crew returned to Ryderwood, Washington in the early  1930's with ALCO 2-8-2T #804 in the wrecked condition we see here in the first photo.  #804 had lost her footing in the steep woods above Ryderwood and tumbled down off the tracks into the timber some distance before finally coming to rest.  The evidence of her rough ride down the hillside was quite evident when she was towed back to the shops oh her own wheels.

Despite the bent and twisted metal that adorned the sturdy #804, the shop forces soon assessed her condition and set about to make her right again.  In just a few short weeks, #804 rolled out of the shop with no sign of the injury she had suffered in the woods and was ready to resume her chores.  By 1949 she was still hard at work as we see in the second photo.

Never underestimate the resourcefulness of the steam shop crew!

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/18 02:20 by LoggerHogger.

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Ouch !!  Wonder how the crew in the cab fared ??
Doug

It always amazes me at what the shops could put back together after some disaster.

That's truly amazing that they could fix that. And, yes, I wonder if the crew were repairable as well.