Midwest Central Railroad: No. 9 Shay Engine

It's Back! Our Shay's original number plate has found its way to the Midwest Central Railroad.

With some "interesting" sleuthing, MCRR Volunteers located and horse (well, number plate) traded some air brake equipment for the original number plate of the 9.

The pictures, below -- each with a link to a larger version -- show the plate in various positions around the locomotive and then after a brief interlude in the shop, volunteers Jesse, Griffin, Dustin, and Matt (not shown; he's using the camera!) mounting the original plate to the smoke box door.

Engine 9 is a three truck Shay type locomotive built by Lima Locomotive Works, Lima Ohio, in 1923.

All wheels are driven on this logging locomotive by three 12"x15" vertical engines through a flexible drive line and gear reduction, the right hand (engineer's) side. To compensate for the weight of the engines the boiler sits off center to the left. This 80-ton locomotive is one of the three largest narrow gauge Shays ever built, producing 36,150-lbs. tractive effort. It carries 200-psi boiler pressure and is superheated.

The #9 operated on the West Side Lumber Co. out of Toulumne, California. The WSL Co. ran a maximum 72-mile main line and had many more miles of spurs in Toulumne County. Nine worked with half a dozen other Shays on the line entering into the woods making one trip a day hauling the giant logs down to the mill. The West Side lasted until the early 1960's, and was the last steam powered narrow gauge logging railroad in the United States.

Nine was shipped to Iowa operational by flat car in 1966. It has operated here since then.

The MCRR staff was digging through the archives and located these pictures of 9 when it arrived in Mt. Pleasant in 1966. Each picture links to a larger version.

Below is the restored Shay operating at Midwest Central Railroad in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.
Today the #9 looks nearly identical to how it did in the last part of her logging career.