Steam & Excursion > This Locomotive's 21 Years Old And Out Of Work, But Not For Long!

The date is June, 1955 and the Sierra Railroad ran it's "Farewell To Steam" trip 2 months earlier.  The trip featured Sierra 2-8-0 and 2-6-6-2 #38 on the special train from Oakdale, California to Jamestown and back to Oakdale. 

When #38 returned the next day from Oakdale with her freight, she was run across the turntable from the turntable lead since she was too big to be turned on the turntable without removing her tender.  The only was she would fit on this track which was used by car shop to turn wheel sets, was to open the low doors on the roundhouse that were meant for the wheel-sets so her pilot could protrude in far enough for the rear of her tender to clear the turntable.  Here she would sit for the rest of the spring and most of the summer of 1955.

It would not be until September, 1955 that she would be sold to Rayonier Inc. to be returned to the logging service that she was first built to handle in 1934 when Baldwin built her as the #4 for Weyerhaeuser's Klamath Falls, Oregon operation.

For now, she will just wait by the roundhouse while the new Baldwin diesels take over the Sierra RR freight trains.  She deserves this rest, as she will be back at work in the woods soon enough.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/20 05:06 by LoggerHogger.

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I've seen pictures of her today....a wreck, a hulk.  What is to happen to her?  Does anyone have any plans?

Take a look at what we started with on Skookum and what we ended up with.  All of Fred's locomotives can be restored when the right time and person comes.  Fred saved many of these locomotives from being scrapped, including #38.  The scrapper offered it to Tom Murray at MRSR and he turned it down as did other museums at the time.  Had Fred not agreed to move her at his expense, the scrapper was going to cut her up.

Martin

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There are quite a few (especially younger) people out on facebook and some of these forums who apparently do not appreciate Mr. Kepner and his collection.  He saved these locomotives out of his own pocket, paid to have them dismantled and moved to Oregon and has paid to store them ever since, some of them for as long as 60 years or more.  We should thank him for saving them, in the hope that someday they can be restored, instead of complaining about the condition that they are in right now.  Right now, they are NOT razor blades and being NOT razor blades there is a future.

Someday I hope to get to the far west, (past Cheyenne), to photograph the great Skookum on a charter.    Those 2 pictures, side by side, are just unreal.  They should be presented to anyone who thinks a locomotive is too far gone for restoration.    ....now about that NYC Hudson found in a coal mine in Ohio......

With Bend being as popular as it is now and the City of Prineville Railroad just down the road, it would be great to see the Kepner Collection become the core of an Age Of Steam Roundhouse, Jr. type of museum in Central Oregon. If Mt. Emily Shay #1 was included, the City of Prineville RR was receptive to the idea, and you could cosmetically restore a couple Kepner engines, I think it could be a viable museum/tourist draw. Then, over time, you could restore what you want from the collection or find homes for the pieces that don't fit.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/20 13:33 by A-1.