Steam & Excursion > This Steam Locomotive Served 3 Railroads In The Same County!

Geared locomotives were known for going through multiple ownership's during their lifetimes.  Many traveled to new owners in different states before being retired.  This locomotive changed owners multiple times but stayed in the same County its entire life.

Originally built by the Stearns Manufacturing Company for the Sierra Ry of California as their #9, she was ordered with a saddle tank to give her more capacity and traction for the run from Jamestown to Angels, California.  She worked well on that line until she was replaced in the early 1920's by a pair of Baldwin 2-6-2 locomotives.  She was then sold to the nearby Pickering Lumber Co. as their #8 to work the log trains on that company's logging railroad.

In 1925 when Pickering bought out the near-by West Side Lumber Co., #8 was assigned to be the mill switcher in Tuolumne.  She retained the #8 during those years.  In 1930 due to the Great Depression, Pickering shut down both it's Standard and its Tuolumne operations.  In 1935 the original West Side Lumber owners took back from receivership the Tuolumne operation and resumed logging in 1936.  Along with this change in ownership came Heisler #8.  She was re-lettered for the West Side and was given the "#1" as her road number.  She the resumed her job as mill switcher in Tuolumne.

We see her here in Tuolumne in 1946.She had 4 decades of hard use by this time and her operating days were numbered.  By early 1947 she would be retired for good at that time.  She donated her standard gauge truck parts to West Side's narrow gauge Heisler #3 that was converted to standard gauge to take over the mill switching duties for the balance of the operating days of the West Side.

While she did not travel far between her 3 owners, they all got a different use out of her in Tuolumne County.

Martin



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/21 05:38 by LoggerHogger.

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Super interesting story Martin.

Nathan

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