The detail history of NML #7, #3345 is in the R*G*S Story Volume #7 by Sundance Publication Ltd. which tell the story of the test run out over the logging railroad. It took over a train from an inbound double header at Little Beaver Camp in the Glade section but only went a few miles when it was taken off the train at the “crossover”. It broke so many rails the repair crew could not keep up. It was far too heavy for the 40 and 45# rail. It was only on the Lumber Company 16 months before it was repossessed. The story of why it was purchased is the interesting part in the history of the book, which is still in print.
Most of its life at McPhee, CO was wasted shading a spot just east of the shop/engine house building, but in the summer of 1930, it made several trips into Dolores and operated over the Rio Grande Southern in their yard making the interchange of loads for empties. One trip back into McPhee it pulled 16 empty cars for loading. The mill was closed during that time and the only activities were shipping out the lumber storage yard. It burned coal at this time and had a straight cast iron stack. The Radley & Hunter stack in the builder photo was purchased with the engine, but no photos of the engine with this stack have been found. The NML engine crews were happy to see it leave, as they were scared of derailing on a broken rail and being killed in a roll over in the engine. Two earlier roll-overs with the #4 killed an engineer and a fireman in the year apart accidents on soft roadbed.
See page 391 in Volume #7 for its close encounter with Dallas Divide on the RGS. The Shay was shipped March 26, 1931 from Dolores to Hofius Steel & Equipment where it sat at Seattle until July 7, 1931. After that date, the only OL Co. reference in the Timberman Magazine was “Bert Shelton, Bates, is working on a 50 million board ft contract for Oregon Lumber Co. He purchased the Oregon Lbr.Co.’s logging equipment.” It worked for the OL Co. until about 1947 and was last used to remove the rails of the Sumpter Valley RR. Does anyone know Bert Shelton and where that contract cut timber on the SVRR?
