The Mt. Rainier Scenic RR had a successful outing this last Saturday with the #2. Here are links for a video.

Part I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HNtcU7SiaQ

Part II- These were the only run-bys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_zapGe_7VA

Please forgive my ignorance on geared locomotives (and steam in general), but what is the difference between a Willamette and a Shay (besides builders)?

ATK,
What is the difference between a Shay and a Willamette? That is an excellent question. I don't have my geared loco books readily available, so I can't give you a lot of specifics; but the main difference can be summed up in the word "innovation". The Shay had remained the same for decades. The patents had expired. Willamette had repaired and rebuilt Shays. They had ideas for improving the Shay. So, they built a Shay look-alike called the Willamette. Lima would answer the Willamette's improvements with their Pacific Coast Shay. Unfortunately, logging by rail was already in decline. There was a glut of used locos available and the need for more costly new locomotives was in sharp decline by this time.

Did anyone notice the claim in the piece in Flimsies that this engine is the "only geared loco operating anywhere in the world?"

I think some good folks in Cass, WV might have a thing or two to say about that.

Where do reporters get that kind of BS? Or is it self-generating?

The most visible difference is in the cylinder assembly. The Shay has 2 cylinders facing forward and one back while the Willamette has all 3 cylinders facing forwards. There are a number of other mechanical differences but you can tell the cylinder arrangement at a glance.

Howard

There are many differences between a Shay and Willamette. Howard is correct on the cylinder arrangment. However, even mor signifigant is the fact that all 3 cylinders are outside the cab. If you have to pull #3 cylinder on a Shay you have to remove the cab.
Willamette offered buyers as STANDARD features many things that Shay only offered as options such as, All weather steel cabs, girder frames, piston valves (on later Willies), cast steel trucks, etc.
Shay developed the Pacific Coast Shay to compete with Willamette and offered the same features as standard as a direct result of the inroads that Willamette had made into the Lima - Shay market.

Martin

No need to go as far as Cass to find another, at times on Saturday you needed to look no further than the back coupler of the Willamette, where you could find an operating Climax...

Here's what happened. #2 is the only operating Willamette geared locomotive. We are careful to make that distincition, and the reporter took lots of notes. He asked plenty of questions about what a geared engine was, and how they work etc. He then published the article and photos in the Tacoma News Tribune.

Someplace along the line, maybe in editing, the word Willamette was dropped from the phrase "World's only operating Willamette geared locomotive", changing the sentence from accurate to hyperbole. Not the first time a mistake of that nature has occured in the paper, and probably not the last time either.

I believe I've also heard that Willamettes used Walschaert's valve gear where Shays only used Stephenson's.