The "lumber" trade of the United States and Canada is a
specialised industry standing almost alone among the commercial
enterprises of the world, and it has created a need for, and
obtained, a specialised plant for its successful operation.
Tree-felling and timber-sawing are responsible for the production of
machinery of remarkable efficiencey, but in between these two
processes there is a requirement which is filled by the "Shay"
geared locomotive, a machine peculiarly adapted for use on rough and
ready tracks of timber or iron. *** DO NOT COPY **** Violators will be prosecuted! gearedsteam.com
FIG. 1. - THE FIRST "SHAY" PATENT GEARED
LOCOMOTIVE, BUILT 1880.
The first "Shay" geared locomotive was built by the Lima
Locomotive and Machine Co. of Lima, Ohio, U.S.A., no further back
than 1880, to the designs of a practical lumberman, Mr. Ephraim
Shay, and it is illustrated in Fig. 1. As can be seen, the design
was exceedingly crude, and the engine was full of defects, but it
was gradually modified into a machine of sufficient capacity and
adaptability to be the pioneer of a new system of transporting
timber, and a process of evolution brought about the more perfect
geared locomotives of to-day, of which some hundreds are now in
service in various parts of the world.
*** DO NOT COPY **** Violators will be prosecuted! gearedsteam.com
FIG. 2. - A MODERN "SHAY" GEARED LOCOMOTIVE FOR A
LOGGING RAILROAD.
The principle of the "Shay"
geared locomotive was described in our issue of August 15th, 1904.
We are able to show here some typical illustrations of Shay geared
locomotives at work. Fig. 2 is an example of a modern "Shay" geared
locomotive and tender.
FIG. 3. - A "SHAY" LOCOMOTIVE THAT JUMPED THE
TRACK.
Fig. 3 shows one of the chances to which logging locomotives are
subject. The capsized engine, a 32-ton "Shay", was running over
switches of 20-lb. steel on a logging road in Texas, when it jumped
the track and lay over on its side, fortunately just before reaching
the timber bridge visible in the foreground. It is interesting to
note that when the engine was replaced on the track, it was found to
be undamaged in any vital particular, and it was at once filled up
with water, fired up and put to work again -- a marvellous testimony
to the strength and durability of these wonderful locomotives, and
an evidence of their peculiar fitness for rough and tumble work such
as they are built for.
FIG. 4. - A 37-TON "SHAY" LOCOMOTIVE HAULING
LUMBER IN IDAHO.
Fig. 4 shows a more usual scene, a 37-ton Shay hauling a heavy load
of timber on a lumber estate in Idaho. These picturesque views are
eloquent witness to the utility of the geared locomotive in virgin
country where economy in track-making is of prime importance, while
their employment under other conditions shows them to be of all
round capability.
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