Steam & Excursion > The Butt Lake Dinky and an Almanor artifact

A couple days ago I visited the town of Chester, CA, (near Mount Lassen) where the "Butt Lake Dinky" is displayed along the main street. A tiny Porter 0-4-0T, it was used to build the dam that formed Butt Lake in 1914. It was then abandoned in the lake bed and discovered when the lake was drained in 1996. Rescued after 82 years under water, it has to be one of the more unique steam preservation stories.   
Also in Chester, the Collins Pine Company has a display of vintage logging and lumbering equipment, including the GE 70-tonner used on the now-abandoned Almanor Railroad. They still ship by rail, but the outbound lumber is now trucked over to the BNSF at Clear Creek Junction, on the former-WP line from Keddie to Beiber.

---

---

---

Thanks for an excuse to post this one.

Here's Collins Pine 166 on April 19, 1966. I see the engine has lost those hefty sized plow-pilots.

 Looking again at those plows, they were so wide the company saw fit to add a hand grab on the back-side as seen looking at the one we see on the rear of the engine. Different than any I’ve seen.

Charlie



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/20 09:48 by cewherry.

---

Was the museum actually open or were you just able to wander around the grounds? I've tried to reach someone there several times since last summer to see if the museum was going to reopen after the COVID shutdown but I never reached anyone. 

The little one spot could use some refreshing.   Tiny little thing.

trainjunkie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Was the museum actually open or were you just able
> to wander around the grounds? I've tried to reach
> someone there several times since last summer to
> see if the museum was going to reopen after the
> COVID shutdown but I never reached anyone. 

I didn't check the museum building itself, as it was 5pm and I had a four-hour drive home. I just looked at the exhibits around the grounds and of course I was mostly there to see the locomotive. 

The 166 appears to be in great shape. I checked it out in person a couple years ago. I hope they can get her under a cover in the near future.