Steam & Excursion > Steam Railroading Seen Here In It's Simplest & Most Basic Form!

In July, 1947 Bay Area Railfan Ted Wurm made a swing through the Pacific Northwest on a family trip.  Along the way he stopped at a number of steam railroads and logging lines so he could capture them on film.

One of those stops was at the engine facility of the Cowlitz, Chehalis & Cascade Railway in Chehalis, Washington.  It was there that he took this photo of CC&C #20 by the enginehouse receiving some servicing and in the distance CC&C #15 taking on fuel and water while getting ready for another days duties.

The summer grass is growing quite well throughout the sparse yards on this summer day.  The CC&C is clearly not showing any signs of prosperity even at their "headquarters" on this day, but she is still surviving and serving her customers with the 2nd hand motive power on her roster.  #20 is a hand-me-down from the Northern Pacific, while 2-8-2 #15 came from her second owner, the Cascade Lumber Co. of Clear Lake, Washington.

The CC&C was nothing fancy when it came to spit and polish, but that just shows you that steam railroading was not all about such trappings.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/20 02:57 by LoggerHogger.

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I'm betting it was fun to be the boy hanging on the tender,

Martin, didn't the 15 come from the PUGET SOUND & Cascade Railway?

Scott,

That was her first owner.  My post talks about who was her second owner just before the CC&C bought her.

Martin

I will bet that the little guy became a life long train watcher (if nothing else).   Neat how his new jeans are rolled up almost to his knees so that the could grow into them.  I remember getting jeans way to long and rolling them up like that.    
 

Mike Wurm, Ted's son, was a high school buddy of mine.  I was born in Oct '45 and Mike was a bit older than me making him around 3 yrs old when the pic was taken..  I wonder if the little guy in the pic could be my h.s. friend Mike?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/20 08:14 by LarryB.

I assume this is Ted's son in the photo.  He is in several other photos I have from this 1947 trip that Wurm took to the Pacific Northwest.

Martin

#15 is at the Chehalis Centralia Railroad & Museum and is undergoing major work.  The non-profit is seeking donations to complete firebox repairs and put #15 back into operation.

I would have bet that was Ted's son on the tender.  Speaking of rolling up jeans, when you get old like me you start shrinking.  I just got a new pair of jeans in my usual waist-inseam combination, and by gosh I am having to roll them up like I did many years ago as a kid.

"hold onto this handle and stand rigtht here and DO NOT MOVE until I get this photo"    yet another great picture Martin....the young lad makes it so.   yes, Jim, I am also shrinking.....something to do with gravity..........Arlen

asheldrake Wrote:
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> . . .   yes, Jim, I am also shrinking.....something to do with gravity.
> Arlen

Yeah, me too, Arlen.  I've lost nearly 3".  But, since I'm not gettin' any older like you are (yeah, right!), in my case much of it was due to the brutal vertical pounding of the Amtrak cabbage cars in the '90s on the poor ex-SP track in the Willamette Valley.  I was able to return after about 9 months off but Al and John never could come back to work after their operations to try to relieve the damage.  Funny how Amtrak's mechanical department couldn't figure out that after you remove maybe half the weight of the locomotive it might be a good idea to re-spring the trucks!  Years later they finally did but not before very serious injuries occurred.