Steam & Excursion > This Company Preferred To Rent Their Steam Locomotives For Years!

While most lumber companies who had their own railroad owned their own locomotives as well, that was not always the case.  Here is an example of a lumber company that bucked this trend for many decades.

In the early years of it's life, the Henry McCleary Timber Company of McCleary, Washington did own a handful of its own locomotives for use on its logging railroad.  These included same old and relatively small rod-type locomotives and even one Shay.  However, beginning in the 1920's, the company decided to start leasing a a series of 0-6-0's from the Northern Pacific Railroad.  We see 2 of these leased locomotives here, the #916 in 1947 and #901 in 1939.

The NP motive power records show that when one of these leased 0-6-0's was in need of shopping it was returned to the NP for that work and the NP simply gave the lumber company another 0-6-0 in its place until the shopping was over.  When one of these aging 0-6-0's was simply worn out, the lumber company would have it returned to NP and would receive another 0-6-0 in its place and the cycle would start all over again. 

Over the years from the 1920's until the mid-1950's there were a number of these NP 0-6-0's that were sent to the McCleary Timber Co.  Some only lasted there for a few months if they were replacing an 0-6-0 that was being shopped, while some stayed there for a number of years until they were simply worn out.   The longer each of these NP 0-6-0's stayed on the McCleary property, the more modifications they received to adapt them to the lumber company's needs.

Even after the McCleary Timber Co. was bought out by Simpson Logging Co. this practice of leasing 0-6-0's from the NP was continued.  Finally, when NP was out of serviceable 0-6-0's to send to McCleary, Simpson sent it's 80-ton Shay #7 from Shelton to McCleary to fill in as the sole motive power at the McCleary mill.

This was an interesting operation while it lasted.  Someone decided it was cheaper to let NP supply and keep in repair these locomotives under lease for all these years rather than simply own their own motive power and repair it themselves.

Martin



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/21 03:22 by LoggerHogger.

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This was applied to the big McCleary mill at Shelton, even after Simpson bought them out.

That's a big pile of wood in the 901.
Rick Z

zoohogger Wrote:
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> That's a big pile of wood in the 901.
> Rick Z

Those are the coal boards for the coal that she burned.

Martin

Zoomed in on the tender, they look like peeler core ends.

Brook

Brook,

That is a good spot on your part.  While these were both coal burners, McCleary had loads of wood they could substitute in when need be.

Martin

How did using wood in a small coal burning locomotive work?  

The NP was a great customer of Alco for 0-6-0 switchers.  Alco built 0-6-0's for the NP at most of their different plants.  Most of us builder's plate collectors would not have an Alco-Dickson plate if it was not for an order of NP 0-6-0 locomotives.  I have enclosed a photo of my plate from NP #1108.

Ron

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I have a copy of a newspaper article that says the NP actually converted them to burn wood before hey left the shops!

fehorse1 Wrote:
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> I have a copy of a newspaper article that says the
> NP actually converted them to burn wood before hey
> left the shops!

Pete,

That is interesting.  Some of the photos of these leased NP 0-6-0's show them with coal loads and the other photos show them with wood in the tender.  Here is NP #1033 at McCleary in 1953 with a coal load.  She was leased by Simpson from 1946 until mid-1954.

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/21 04:06 by LoggerHogger.

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