Eileen Brazil was kind enough to email me the links to these pictures that she recently took of an abandoned Shay water tank. It’s located north of North Plains, Oregon, in the woods. She said that was involved in a run-away train wreck around 1937 that killed a poor lady that was just walking down the tracks. Apparently the locomotive missed a curve and went down a hill. The only remains they were able to find so far are the water tank you see here. They must have salvaged everything else. Strange that they would leave the tank. Apparently it’s located several miles from the nearest road.

I was wondering if the tank has any distinguishing features that might indicate year and type of Shay. Or if anyone has any further details of this wreck or what became of the remains. Why would they leave the tank, but take everything else?

http://www.gaiser.org/wreck/TrainWreck.jpg
http://www.gaiser.org/wreck/TrainWreck2.jpg
http://www.gaiser.org/wreck/TrainWreck3.jpg

If anyone thinks there aren't any more steam locomotive remains in the woods....there sure are. Here's a couple I've visited myself.

http://www.brian894x4.com/AbandonedIdahoClimax.html
http://www.brian894x4.com/RingofFire.html

Thanks for any info. And if you know of any other locomotive wreck sites or rumoured wreck sites anywhere else, let us know.

Brian.

Nice website. Very thorough treatment of the Ring of Fire movie wreck.

Thanks!

Brian,

There are lots of "lost locomotives" out there, and probably more yet to be found.

Are you familiar with RumorWeb:

http://nt1.foothill.net/rumorweb/

Andrew Brandon has done a great job documenting the many reports of lost and abandoned railroad equipment across the country.

Below is a picture of the remains of Napoleon Cypress Co (ex-Manhattan El) 0-4-4T Class E #156(329), found on the shore of Lake Verrett in Loiuisana. It is one of four surviving New York Elevated Forneys known to exist; the others are abandoned on the tundra in Alaska, and featured on Andrew's website, my "Surviving World Steam Locomotive" CD-ROMs, and elsewhere.



My "Surviving World Steam Locomotive" update CD-ROMs have also included pictures of the two locomotives on the tramway on Eagle Lake in Maine, the remains of a "tee" boiler Shay near Sumter, SC; and a two-truck Heisler that ran away and rolled itself into a ball of junk in the Tacoma City watershed in Washington state. There are others, it just takes a little research to know where to look for them.

You are doing a great job documenting what you have found so far; and I am looking forward to your future discoveries. I can't help you with your latest find; I don't know what locomotive it was. As to why it was left there; it was sitting upright, so perhaps it was used as a water storage tank of some kind before being abandoned altogether.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

[url]Surviving World Steam Project[/url]

Brian,

There are lots of "lost locomotives" out there, and probably more yet to be found.

Are you familiar with RumorWeb:

http://nt1.foothill.net/rumorweb/

Andrew Brandon has done a great job documenting the many reports of lost and abandoned railroad equipment across the country.

Below is a picture of the remains of Napoleon Cypress Co (ex-Manhattan El) 0-4-4T Class E #156(329), found on the shore of Lake Verrett in Loiuisana. It is one of four surviving New York Elevated Forneys known to exist; the others are abandoned on the tundra in Alaska, and featured on Andrew's website, my "Surviving World Steam Locomotive" CD-ROMs, and elsewhere.



My "Surviving World Steam Locomotive" update CD-ROMs have also included pictures of the two locomotives on the tramway on Eagle Lake in Maine, the remains of a "tee" boiler Shay near Sumter, SC; and a two-truck Heisler that ran away and rolled itself into a ball of junk in the Tacoma City watershed in Washington state. There are others, it just takes a little research to know where to look for them.

You are doing a great job documenting what you have found so far; and I am looking forward to your future discoveries. I can't help you with your latest find; I don't know what locomotive it was. As to why it was left there; it was sitting upright, so perhaps it was used as a water storage tank of some kind before being abandoned altogether.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project

Looks like a 2 truck Shay, given the ladder on the rear of the tank. Hard to judge the size, but maybe in the 50 ton range, as it looks fairly large. Also most likely a coal burner, since there's no wood rack sides or oil tank present. I'd be interested to see if the find any more parts.
As others have mentioned - great website, Brian! One of my new favorites.

Mike
The Western VA Railroad Preservation Soc.

The Tacoma Watershed Heisler has in fact been recovered. It is part of the collection with the steam equipment in Tillamook,OR. I understand it was "the worst day of my life" said one of the crew!

Smokebox

Thanks James,

I did contact Andrew Brandon who runs Rumour Web, but he said that he hasn't been able to update the site in a long while, due to other commitments. That's too bad. I have a ton of stuff, I'd like to add to it.

Regarding this Shay, I did find out that it appears to have wrecked on a spur operated by the Grove Lumber Company. The spur left the United Railway about 1 mile west of North Plains, Oregon and headed northeast. But that's all I know right now.

I'd really like to figure out which Shay this is, so I can try to track down it's history.

Brian, if you haven't already, you are invited to join the Rumorweb discussion group on Yahoo. Talking about unverified and new rumors is one of the very reasons the group was started. That and using it to light a fire under Andrew because he has been slow in updating ever since we met. Try posting some new rumor up there and see how quickly it gets up on Rumorweb. The URL is: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/r ... discussion
Yours truly, Biff Byrum

Thanks for the invite. I will definately check it out.

By the way, here's the information on the Shay. Thanks to Jon Davis for sending me the info that was apparently published in the current issue of Tall Timber Short Lines:

They are the remains of a 1913 2-truck Lima Shay
(CN 2622, 11x12 cylinders, 32" wheels, 100,000 lbs). This Shay was Simpson Logging Company #10, later loaned to the Fredson
Brothers Logging Company as their #10 from 1923-1925. In 1928 it was sold to the E.J. Sherman Lbr. Company of Mountaindale, Oregon.

From my own research, the line was originally owned by the Grove Lumber Company and connected with United Railways just east of North Banks, Oregon. The spur operated from 1928 until 1937. The wreck apparently occured in 1937, during the time period they were tearing up the line. Some of the old RR grade was turned into local country roads, but the other parts, including where the loco crashed was not and that's why it's much harder to access.

If anyone has any further info, please share. Thanks!!

Hey Brian,
Are you planning on checking out the site yourself? If they scrapped the engine after the wreck, which it appearas they did, I think there's a good chance that other sheet metal parts (light stuff) may have been left behind, like the cab, sand dome and air tank. Have fun if you do.

See ya - Mike

Hey Brian,
Are you planning on checking out the site yourself? If they scrapped the engine after the wreck, which it appears as if they did, I think there's a good chance that other sheet metal parts (light stuff) may have been left behind, like the cab, sand dome and air tank. Have fun if you do.

See ya - Mike