Re: Ely Thomas Shay #5 and Climax #?

The posted photos were taken within a year of their arrival in Michigan. Shay #5 was operational when purchased and was steamed a few times in Ann Arbor and run back and forth on 100 feet of track. The cab was in need of repair when purchased and had apparently suffered a fire at one time, as some of the framing was charred. My father got a set of plans from Lima but no work was done during the time it was in Ann Arbor. It went to Green Bay after 11 or 12 years in Ann Arbor and except for a railfan having stolen the whistle and 12 years of weathering, it looked pretty much like the photos posted at the start of this thread. I'm looking for my photos of the move, but I was in college at the time and who knows where the photos wound up. It was trucked to a local lumber yard spur and went out on the Ann Arbor Railroad.

My father sent the cab plans to Green Bay, but they chose to build a crappy plywood cab. After the loco sat outdoors for 40 years, I am guessing all the wood parts were beyond saving. The photo taken in the indoor storage building at Green Bay shows temporary running board planks and no cab. The coal bunker and tank are also removed. They probably rusted badly during the period of outdoor storage. It does appear that Green Bay did the asbestos remediation and removed the jacket at some point, so hopefully the boiler is in decent shape.

Climax #7 probably never ran at Ely Thomas. All photos show it parked in the same location with the stack covered. The tank had sprung a leak at some point in the past and the frame had rusted badly. While in Ann Arbor the Ely Thomas log loader was used as a crane to remove the tank to allow work on the frame. The Climax was never steamed in Ann Arbor. With a steel cab, it looked pretty much like it did on arrival when it was shipped out, also going out via the Ann Arbor Railroad.

Michael Allen