Steam & Excursion > When You Are Proud Of Your Steam Fleet, This Is What You Do!

Back in 1940, the Polson Logging Company of Hoquium, Washington had grown from the small oxen-powered logging company that they started from near the turn of the last Century.  They had early on embraced the logging railroad as the best means to move their logs from the forest to the mill.  The next several decades saw them sxpand this railroad into quite a large and impressive railroad system that would rival many shortlines of the era.

In 1940, Clark Kinsey, the famous traveling photographer of the Northwest Logging industry stopped by Polson's Railroad Camp to see if he could take some photos of the copmany's logging operation.  There he met the camp boss who informed him that, since they had recently shopped serveral of the lokies on the Polson logging railroad fleet, that this would be a good time to take a portrait of the whole Polson fleet in the same spot.

Finding a suitable clearing in the trees big enough for this portrait was not a problem since Polson did an excellent job of clearing the forest from all trees where ever they sent their fallers.  The railroad crew was given the orders to assemble the entire fleet of 13 operable lokies into a single line for Kinsey just a few miles out of camp.  The camp boss insisted that the largest lokies be in the front of the line to add to the overall fell of the image that Kinsey would produce.  Here is the result.

On the point was Polson's big 2-6-6-2 #3100 that they had purchased for $10,000 from the Northern Pacific just a few years earlier.  This would be the first articulated on this railroad and would be followed by a number of more 2-6-6-2's once Polson sold out to Rayonier in 1945.

Needless to say, the camp boss must have been quite proud to hang one of these 11 x 14 prints of his fleet in his office at Railroad Camp when Kinsey finished that day.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/19 04:10 by LoggerHogger.

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Amazing opportunity-freshly shopped logging locomotives and all moved together for a visiting photographer.  Another rarity we appreciate you sharing.

Awesome!

Posted from iPhone

WOW!!!  

Sadly, so much in America has lost pride in their business or work. 

An "A+" posting!
Bob