Forgot about this, but in March of 1969, I took a leave from the USAF and enjoyed riding the Sonora Baja California and Pacifico down to Culiacan, Mexico where the Mexican Western, a steam-powered short line was located.

On the first workday that I was there, a Monday, the active Porter 0-6-0 reached into the engine house to move sister number 1.

I walked around to the west side of the building and was really surprised to discover a 3 cylinder Shay engine set sitting on the dirt floor. It was laying up against one of the upright girders. Try as I might and even switching to a modest wide angle lens, I could not get a photograph of it, it was too close to the side of the number 1. It had the modern casting to support the crank.

This engine was not a really large one, nothing like a 12" by 15". If I had to guess, I'd say maybe 8 inch bore or maybe even as much as 10, but it did not stand that high.

I tried through the years to get info on this, but had no luck. Even Doug Richter and Dan Ranger had no idea.

Why was this here? No real grades on this line. Why was it saved that late? I'll wonder about this the rest of my life.

In Spanish it is/was the "Ferrocarril Occidental de Mexico", here is your 0-6-0 I'll bet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYhV9WRDkjM

It is in a museum, on page 10 of this PDF http://www.museoferrocarrilesguiadocent ... eccion.pdf

it says:

"This locomotive was built for the Body
of Transportation of the United States Army,
and it was destined to the military base of San
Bernardino, California. I originally had
Integrated water and fuel tanks
that were later removed and adapted
a tender
In 1948 it was acquired by the Railway
Western Mexico to circulate in the
stretch from Culiacán to Novolato, Sinaloa, where
He gave service until it was withdrawn. With her
mainly products were transported
agricultural products of the region.
Once out of service, for several years
was sheltered in the railway workshops of
Empalme, Sonora, which belonged to the
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México company.
Later it was restored to participate,
on March 6, 2002, in the celebrations of the
the first centenary of the modernization of
Veracruz port, and to be incorporated into
collection of this museum."

I haven't been able to find anything about the Shay, but it is an agonizing process to find anything on contemporary Mexican websites about their railroad history. There are several Shay's listed on steamlocomotive.info.com under Mexico, could it be one of these:

http://www.steamlocomotive.info/mexico.cfm


Here is an article on the railway, that confirms Ferrocarril Occidental de Mexico as the railroad in Culiacan, run through google translate: https://sinaloa.space/el-tacuarinero-fe ... de-mexico/

"The Tacuarinero, Western Railway of Mexico



History and culture of Sinaloa, Mexico



THE TACUARINERO



By: Héctor R. Olea



The old neighbors of Culiacan, perhaps, still evoke the Western Railway of Mexico better known as "El Tacuarinero", a nickname awarded because the "tacuarines" vendors traveled there from the coast, provincialism that comes from the word cahita "tacarin", which means corn bread mixed with butter and sewn in the oven in the form of a thread.

Engineer Don Mariano Martinez de Castro signed, being elected Governor of the State, a contract with the Minister of Public Works Mr. Carlos Pacheco for the construction of this First Railroad from the port of Altata to Culiacán, on August 16, 1880.

The governor Martinez de Castro transferred the concession for the construction and management of the railway project, four months later, to Mr. Adams an industrialist from New York, who organized the "Sinaloa and Durango Company" and the capital was subscribed in Boston in accordance with the laws of Massachusetts.

The works for the construction of the referred railway that was extended until Durango began, after elaborating the topographic charts and of being the location of the route until Culiacán, in the month of June of 1881."

This is just the first half of the article, the rest isn't terribly useful.

I want to make certain that what I spoke of was not a complete Shay locomotive, but its 3 cylinder engine set only.

That being said, it was still one of the most out-of-place items that I have ever seen around a railroad property.

A slight digression, concerning Porter 2, she had a really unique whistle while in service and that was a Barnes mailbox whistle, a somewhat shrill single note device. The other engine, number 1, had an S.P. 6 chime, no surprise given that they interchanged with the S.P. of Mexico, later Pacifico.

There were just under 100 Shays in Mexico apparently, it could be that what you saw was the remains of one of these (on the left side of the page, click on MX):
https://www.shaylocomotives.com/data/se ... aframe.htm
Quite a few listed have cylinders in the 7"-9" diameter range.

Unfortunately Mexico doesn't seem to have a railfan/preservation community such as RyPN so there is no place to ask about it.

Is it possible that the engine was used to power some type of heavy machinery in the area?

I think that is entirely possible Charlie. Out at the end of the Mexican Western was a large sugar cane operation. There were a couple of n.g. locomotives there behind a stone wall that looked to be long retired. So I can see where it could have been utilized as a stationery engine in the area. Culiacan was an agricultural city.

But this engine was inside the engine house that sat right adjacent to the Pacifico mainline through town. That's what really throws me as the Mexican Western had a large collection of unused junk outside. Why was this heavy piece of machinery purposely put inside? Where did it come from? I'd like to know the relationship someday.

I have noticed that info from Mexico is hard to come by. None of the museums I have contacted have ever answered. The Mexlist group also seems to have died.

Thanks John. I joined Mexlist some years back, posted this and got not one reply. Was pretty disappointed. All kinds of interest in modeling though!

Coulda, woulda, shoulda tried harder to get the crew to move the 0-6-0 inside for me just long enough to get a couple of exposures. Didn't realize my error at the time.