Do you know of an instance where a logging or mining company, that operated Shay locomotives, had track rights on a mainline to deliver their product? Or have they always been creatures of the company’s private shortlines and never allowed further? I know how comparatively slow they were and can’t imagine them being allowed to slow traffic.
Jarrell
Class 1’s operated some geared locomotives - I recall seeing a picture of one that was completely shrouded.
I’m not sure that one saw the kind of trackage rights seen today, where a shortline might have access to a mainline to get between sections of their railroad. As such, I suspect that Shays and their counterparts stayed on their own lines.
There is also the matter of the speed available to geared locomotives - they were hardly speed merchants - thus I have my doubts that they would be regularly allowed on a busy mainline. Branch lines, perhaps.
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Anything and everything is and was possible. The Western Maryland, I believe, had Shays, for instance. Logging roads in Pennsylvania along the LV’s Bowman’s Creek Branch often took to the LV track to get from one part of the lumbering project to another…
Well, I’ll be darned. Thanks guys!
Jarrell
The Western Maryland has already been mentioned - Their “Big 6” Shay is still operational at Cass, WV. A number of other Class 1’s had Shays. The N&W had a 4-truck Shay, #56, which was built in 1907. It was used to serve coal mines in the Elkhorn Valley area west of Bluefield, WV. This locomotive was sold by the N&W in 1915 and it became #99 on the El Paso & Southwestern RR.
Two Shays were delivered to the Southern Ry in 1907, numbered 4000 and 4001. These were also massive 4-truck locomotives. They were used in branch line service. In 1915 these Shays were sold to the Chesapeake & Ohio, where they became C&O #14 and #15.
The shrouded Shay mentioned may have been one used in Kansas City, MO by the Kansas City Southern. On the north side of downtown KC, the tracks run down along the river, but the city itself is atop a steep grade and the Shay was suitable to that grade and the tight curves of street running. The shrouding was to protect everyone from all those moving parts in a downtown street enviornment (less stress on horses in the street, too, I would think) , but would have been a “hassle” when it came time for lubricating.
While the overwhelming majority of Shay operations may have been on private roads, there are examples from a number of states where the log train would travel for a relatively short distance from the logging branch to the mill area.
Bill
Oddly, the WM’s Shay #6 mentioned above was used for hauling coal, not logs - htough on a branch as has been noted. From the Cass Scenic Railroad’s webpage on it, at - http://www.cassrailroad.com/shay6.html
"Shay #6
In The Old Days…
Built for Western Maryland coal service Shay #6 was shipped to Elkins, West Virginia May 14, 1945 for use on the 9% grade on the Chaffe branch. Shay #6 was the last Shay ever built. The locomotive’s commercial life was short, lasting only four years. #6 was then stored and finally donated to the Baltimore & Ohio Museum in Baltimore, MD, where it remained for 26 years.
Past to Present…
[snip- PDN] Today, #6 is still like new and a spectacular example of the fine technology of geared locomotives. It combines the grace and refinement of the Pacific Coast Shay with sheer mass (162 tons). The locomotive is about twice as large as any other locomotive at Cass. The Big 6 is assigned to the Bald Knob, Spruce, and Elkins excursions."
I seem to remember that C&O’s Shays were assigned to the Hot Springs branch in Virginia–so they more likely would have been for pulpwood, not coal, if that’s the case. They also would have gotten a little bit of mainline exposure, between Covington and Clifton Forge.
Even though WM’s 6 was the largest Shay ever built, the C&O Shays had four trucks, so they weren’t exactly small.
C & O Power by Shuster, Huddleston and Staufer (1965) reports that the C & O eventually acquired a total of 16 Shays. It states “The Shays were used on the branches of Cabin Creek Subdivision, chiefly on the steep grades of the Seng Creek Branch. They also saw service on the Rend Sub-Division across the New River from Thurmond, W. Virginia. The first 15 C-9’s were all retired in mid-1923, while the last, No. 20, was sold in August, 1928…”
These apparently were all 4-truck Shays and assigned Class C-9, with the exception of one 3-truck Shay built in 1911. This was assigned Class C-10 and was numbered 14; later renumbered to #10. The 3-truck Shay was sold in October, 1921.
Bill
That’s where I should have looked, Bill (I count both Phil Shuster and Gene Huddleston among my friends).
I thought my memory included a photo of a Shay on the main line between Covington and Clifton Forge.
Anyway, in the locations you cite, Bill, that’s definitely coal country. They were probably made superfluous on the Cabin Creek line when the steep grades on the Seng Creek branch were circumvented. It involved an extension of another branch off the main line; without my maps I can’t be more specific. They would have gone on the C&O main line to obtain major servicing, but coal and water would have been available on or near the branches involved (off the Rend Subdivision they’d have to travel a short distance along the main line to the engine house at Thurmond).
Note that most of these examples are geared engines being used by railroads on branchlines, or switchers etc. not as mainline engines. You can always find an example of anything occuring in railroad history, but in general the answer to the question would be no. A railroad would generally not want slow moving geared engines clogging up their mainlines. Also, logging companies that had to utilize trackage rights like that probably would have rod engines to do those tasks. Here in Minnesota for example, only about 1/3 of logging RR engines were geared, the others were older rod engines with the 2-6-0 being the most common. That’s because log trains often had to run 30-40 miles to get to it’s destination (interchange, river, lake) from the logging area. It would take forever to run a Shay or Climax that far.