I seem to recall that the Graham County ran with two Shays. One is at NCTM, but I can't find where the other one currently is. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Thanks!

John D.

jcpdeke@aol.com

1926 is privately owned by a man in Pennsylvania. It was stripped to the boiler with alot of parts going to 1925 at NCTM. I believe it is listed at shaylocomotive.com

dakota@netstorm.net

In addition to the 3-truck Shays 1925 and 1926, the Graham County had a 60-ton 2-truck Shay, the 1923, which was used during the late 1960's on the Bear Creek Junction tourist trains. It's was ex-Conasauga River Lumber 112, built in 1923 (like the other GC Shays it was numbered for the year in which it was built). In 1970 it went to the Oregon Pacific & Eastern RR in OR for display and in 1978 it went to the Center of Transportation in Galveston, TX. Since then it has been displayed at Noble Park in Texas City, TX (see photo at the below link).

Regards,
Jim Robinson


ex-Graham County/Bear Creek Shay 1923

> 1926 is privately owned by a man in
> Pennsylvania. It was stripped to the boiler
> with alot of parts going to 1925 at NCTM. I
> believe it is listed at shaylocomotive.com

Richard-thanks for the tip (www.shaylocomotives.com). That website says the boiler and frame went to the man in PA. Any ideas about whether the frame included the running gear? Restoration of the 1926 would be much easier if the running gear was included.


jcpdeke@aol.com

What's left of 1926 is owned by steam tractor buff Mike Miller. I believe it's just the boiler and frame sitting on blocking at his place in New Centerville, PA.

Regards,
Jim Robinson

I just remembered the Graham County RR / Bear Creek Junction Scenic RR had a FORTH Shay on the property during the late 1960's. It was a 70-ton 3-truck Shay, which like 1923, came from the Conasauga Lumber Company in TN. Earlier it was owned by the Little River Lumber Company. This Shay did not operate at the GC RR and was just a display piece. Later it went to the Little River Railroad Museum at Townsend, TN where it remains today on display.

Regards,
Jim Robinson

Jim,

Thank you very much for this information. Turns out I have never seen 1925 and 1926, but I HAVE seen and photographed these two. Neat information!

Was 1925 (the one that is intact) the one that was dropped while being loaded?

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

> I just remembered the Graham County RR /
> Bear Creek Junction Scenic RR had a FORTH
> Shay on the property during the late 1960's.
> It was a 70-ton 3-truck Shay, which like
> 1923, came from the Conasauga Lumber Company
> in TN. Earlier it was owned by the Little
> River Lumber Company. This Shay did not
> operate at the GC RR and was just a display
> piece. Later it went to the Little River
> Railroad Museum at Townsend, TN where it
> remains today on display.

> Regards,
> Jim Robinson


Surviving World Steam Locomotives
james1@pernet.net

> Was 1925 (the one that is intact) the one
> that was dropped while being loaded?

1925 is Jim Wrinn's baby, so he probably knows the correct details concerning the life and times of this Shay.

IIRC, 1925 was to have gone to Cass during the mid 1980's, but was damaged during loading. I'm not sure how much damage was done, but obviously it wasn't anything that prevented the engine from being restored to operation as seen today. However, back then, in some fashion this ended the deal and 1925 was left (either at Robbinsville or at the former Bear Creek Junction site--I forget which) for several years. I believe it was in 1988 that the NCTM received 1925 as a donation.

BTW, the 1925 was wrecked on a GC RR freight run during the mid/late 1960's and was repaired using parts from the 1926 (which itself had been side-lined by a condemed boiler by the ICC).

Regards,
Jim Robinson

That I was introduced to the Grand Lady and so far, both of us have stuck together through thick and thin (metal). Perhaps in July, I need to find the spot where my dad and I found her banked, just above the Bear Creek depot.

Jim you got it right--State of Wva hired a local contractor to load the 1925 onto a low boy for transfer to Cass. When they tried to pick her up, they misjudged the weight of the weight of the gears/cylinders and she started to roll. The rigging caught the coal bunker and mangled it pretty bad, but it did catch the fall, thus preventing an upsidedown Shay (and probably somebody saying, we'll, hell, call the scrapper).

From there, things declined quickly. Whoever was in charge of the move on WVA's part hadn't lined up highway permits, and delays angered the rigger/truckers, who wanted their money. The state now wanted compensation for damaging their Shay. Ultimately, the load was parked at the contractor's lot in Robbinsville, then eventually set off on cribbing.

NCTM's non profit got the engine in spring of 1987. Some of the parts were transferred durign that year and the following spring, the frame, boiler and gears came down via truck. I was the lucky person to go up for the loading of the frame/boiler/cylinders and basically to make sure there was no repeat performance of the flipping Shay. You can imagine my delight when the trucker of the 18-wheeler got out of the cab and put his 14-year-old son at the wheel as they backed under the load suspended between two D9 Cats. I still have flashbacks on that one.

Come visit... Dr. Bechtel is warming up some new main rod brasses now, a new steam dome and a fresh paint job. Once John proclaims her fit, she'll be "on the road again."



http://nctrans.org
Wrinnbo@aol.com

Hey Wrinnbo,
How soon will we see your forthcoming Graham County book? I'm chomping at the bit to see your work in print!! It promises to be a winner.

K.R. Bell

> That I was introduced to the Grand Lady and
> so far, both of us have stuck together
> through thick and thin (metal). Perhaps in
> July, I need to find the spot where my dad
> and I found her banked, just above the Bear
> Creek depot.

> Jim you got it right--State of Wva hired a
> local contractor to load the 1925 onto a low
> boy for transfer to Cass. When they tried to
> pick her up, they misjudged the weight of
> the weight of the gears/cylinders and she
> started to roll. The rigging caught the coal
> bunker and mangled it pretty bad, but it did
> catch the fall, thus preventing an
> upsidedown Shay (and probably somebody
> saying, we'll, hell, call the scrapper).

> From there, things declined quickly. Whoever
> was in charge of the move on WVA's part
> hadn't lined up highway permits, and delays
> angered the rigger/truckers, who wanted
> their money. The state now wanted
> compensation for damaging their Shay.
> Ultimately, the load was parked at the
> contractor's lot in Robbinsville, then
> eventually set off on cribbing.

> NCTM's non profit got the engine in spring
> of 1987. Some of the parts were transferred
> durign that year and the following spring,
> the frame, boiler and gears came down via
> truck. I was the lucky person to go up for
> the loading of the frame/boiler/cylinders
> and basically to make sure there was no
> repeat performance of the flipping Shay. You
> can imagine my delight when the trucker of
> the 18-wheeler got out of the cab and put
> his 14-year-old son at the wheel as they
> backed under the load suspended between two
> D9 Cats. I still have flashbacks on that
> one.

> Come visit... Dr. Bechtel is warming up some
> new main rod brasses now, a new steam dome
> and a fresh paint job. Once John proclaims
> her fit, she'll be "on the road
> again."

If I remember correctly, Graham County 1926 included trucks. However, it had no cab and no water tank/third truck. Quite a few parts of 1926 either went along with 1925 or with 2174 when it went back to Tennessee. I am not aware that 1926's boiler was "condemned" by the ICC. I was told that Ed Collins never cared as much for the '26 as he did for 1925. I'm guessing the fact that '26 was superheated and thus more of a maintenance problem may have had something to do with that.

K4s1361@hotmail.com

I was part of the work party that went to Robbinsville to prepare 1925 for the trip to Spencer - in fact, I was also involved in the personal delivery of the check to the seller.

I have vague memories (you had hair, Wayne, and mine was brown it was that far back) of 1926 as having neither cab or tank - our gang dropped the crankshaft, took off a few engine parts as I recall. There wasn't much more that seemed potentially useful for 1925. There was a log loader powered with an identical flathead 6 cylinder motor to that in my '52 Dodge class B navy surplus pickup truck.

We spent a weekend stripping down 1925 to fit under low clearances, removing the cab, stack, and stealable stuff. I roomed with Archie who snored like a whole battalion. Richard was handling a boom truck for the heavy lifting, I think Mike was there too, Tony the Piano Man loaded up his little Honda wagon with shay parts until it dragged on the ground.

I think Jim took some photos........potentially useful for blackmail now.

Spencer in the old days.....before TEA21.

dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Your youngest member of the steam crew back there won't let us Oregonians forget that the 1925 is the FASTEST Shay in the country, after whupping the MT. Emily Lumber 1 at Railfair, Sacramento, in 1999. How is Hayes doing?

fitzrr@pioneer.net

> Your youngest member of the steam crew back
> there won't let us Oregonians forget that
> the 1925 is the FASTEST Shay in the country,
> after whupping the MT. Emily Lumber 1 at
> Railfair, Sacramento, in 1999. How is Hayes
> doing?

Last time i counted there were more than just those two Shays running in the USA. Fastest in the country? Not proven yet. Jack Anderson's shay was clocked once at 18 MPH - glad I wasn't on board.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

What happened to the railroad itself? I suspect pulled up and possibly a trail. Didn't they operate with a diesel briefly afterward the Shays stopped?


ryarger@rypn.org