Having spent some time with Shay #4 this past weekend at the SNLM, I am curious as to this locomotive's history while on the Heber Creeper. Was it involved in any accidents, and did the Heber do any major work on it while it was under their control? I was noticing a few bumps and bruises and was interested in whether those happened while on the Yosemite Lumber or later on. For instance it seems a good deal of work was performed on the #2 cyl. ass'y at some point. Was operation of the #4 discontinued due to mechanical reasons was it simply due to the financial downfall of the railroad.
Thanks,
Chris Allan
http://www.sierraloggingmuseum.org/News/shay.htm

The Shay was my favorite locomotive to fire when I worked for the Heber Creeper part time 1975-1980. When I fired the Shay it was used primarily for the night dinner train service.

Sometime before the night train service it had been stationed for a while at Deer Creek Dam where it met the regular trains then, because of it's slow speed, hauled the regular train down the steep grades and around the tight curves to Bridal Veil Falls then back to Deer Creek Dam where a rod locomotive, 618 or 35, pulled the train back to Heber City.

I never witnessed it, but there are stories of excessive speed and cylinder parts flying off. This would explain the noted repair to the number 2 cylinder.

If memory serves correctly, the Shay was sidelined because of boiler problems. About the time the 36 and 100 came to Heber the Shay’s boiler was getting pretty bad but, because of the new locomotives, there was no need to sink any money into the Shay. With it’s small drivers the 100 also made a good night train locomotive.

A note on the night dinner train. With an ex-Union Pacific dinner, the train was high class and very successful. One year somebody wanted to save money by serving KFC chicken instead of steak. The train’s popularity dropped off and never recovered.