Nostalgia & History > Sierra Holiday extra and questions: CP&LT Shay #2

For some reason, when I was putting together last night's thread featuring Ed Von Nordeck's slides of the 1950 Sierra Holiday excursion, I forgot to include these two of Camino Placerville & Lake Tahoe Shay #2 at Camino, CA.  They belonged with the June 28th images of the Michigan - Cal.

There is a small pipe coming out of the cab window, turning 90 degrees, and dropping down into those boards along the ground, suggesting the 2 is in some sort of static service here.  The pipe isn't insulated, so it's probably not a steam pipe, and there are photos taken in 1951 and 1953 showing the 2 in active service (links below), so I'm curious just what that pipe might have been there for.

The other questions relate to CP&LT 2's cab.  Looking at the 1950 photos below you can see what I surmise is a handrail made of very small diameter rod along the edge of the cab roof.  A similar handrail is visible on the other side of the cab in the first shot in this old thread showing the 2 on a 1951 excursion:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,4013428

However, in the 1953 shot in this thread, the handrail on the engineer's side is gone and the roof edge has a raised "drip strip" instead:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,2715494,2718325#2718325

Comparing photos, you can pick out a lot of other differences in the cab area, too - the openings on the front wall of the cab, the walkway above the cylinders that was horizontal in 1950 but sloped in 1953, the shape of the cab side wall and size of the window, the shape of the steps and handrails below the cab, etc.  The engine was donated to Travel Town in Los Angeles, CA in 1955, where it still exists minus some jewelry as seen in the third photo below.  The details on the rest of the engine seem pretty consistent between 1950 and 1953, so I'm guessing it is the same engine but with a different cab (or maybe just a reconstructed engineer's side - the fireman's side still has a handrail along the roof edge).  My questions are was the cab in fact replaced, and if so, why?

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Evan,

This photo should answer your questions as to why there were changes made to the Shay's cab.

This wreck of #2 occurred a few weeks after the excurionists in your posting paid thier visit to CP&LT #2.

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/16 03:52 by LoggerHogger.

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Thanks for the answer - that's a real shayme.  Considering she fell over on the side with all the important stuff, and steam was on short time by 1950 anyway, it's interesting that CP&LT saw fit to fix her up.