I found this data in the Colorado Historical Newspaper sites. Check out the May 10th, 1890 for the answer to the Quiz:
"Silverton" Shay, Lima Number 269
April 4, 1890: Silverton Standard:
Hon. Otto Mears when in town last Saturday [3/29/1890] informed the
train crew that the new Shay Locomotive would certainly be in here by
the fifteenth of the month. When she comes No. 100 will probably
only be used for passenger.
April 19, 1890 Silverton Standard:
Both of our samplers are kept busy on Red Mountain ore and the
Silverton RR is crowded with business. As soon as the Shay
locomotive get here, two trains will be put on.
Will Booker lost a box of cigars this week to Will Spears, he bet
that the new Shay would be in by the 15th. Well, it was not, but it
is on the road and may be in any day.
May 3, 1890 Silverton Standard:
The Shay locomotive is in Denver and will be here in a few days. It
is named "Silverton".
May 10, 1890 Silverton Standard:
The new Shay locomotive for the Silverton RR is being tried by the
D&RG on La Veta Pass. It will be in here [Silverton] in a few days.
May 17, 1890: Silverton Standard:
The new Shay locomotive came in this week for the Silverton
railroad. It has been running since Monday [May 12, 1890] and doing
good work. It can haul six loads from the Yankee Girl to the top of
the hill. To anyone unacquainted with this kind of locomotive it
looks a little strange. It runs on two trucks, the machinery is all
on the right hand side and the boiler sets over well to the left.
There are three cylinders and a tumbling rod connecting to all the
wheels, which are run by cogs attached to the rods. Our description
may resemble the riddle of the wheelbarrow- a ricity rackety two-
legged muckety with a little twirl at the end- but honestly; we are
not posted on the machinery of a "Shy" [Shay] locomotive.
May 17, 1890 Silverton Standard:
W. V. Elliott, of Lima Ohio, is explaining the beauties of the Shay
locomotive to Billy Booker and will remain here until the engine has
been given a thorough test. He is the traveling engineer for the
builder.
May 24, 1890: Silverton Standard:
W. V. Elliott, the traveling engineer of the Shay locomotive works
returned home to Lima, Ohio, this week after showing the master
mechanic of the Silverton Railroad that his engine would do all that
he claimed for it. He says he had a hard time in Colorado. From the
day he set the engine up in Denver till the day he left the state,
everyone found fault with her, but she pulled six cars from the
Yankee Girl and backed up 18 cars at Stoiber's sampler and did all
that was claimed for her and the boys on the road now that they are
becoming more used to her like her better. She cost about half what
a Baldwin would and weights several tons more than the #100.
June 21, 1890 Silverton Standard:
The Shay locomotive went down to Durango on Saturday afternoon [June
14, 1890]. Mr. and Mrs. F.A.Windgate and child road down as far as
the Springs on it and remained until Monday.
August 23, 1890: Silverton Standard:
Engineer C. M. Leonard of the Yankee Girl was in town [Silverton]
yesterday making some repairs to the Shay locomotive for the Silverton Railroad.
February 14, 1891 Silverton Standard:
General Manager Moses Liverman, of the Silverton railroad, made a
trip to Durango Monday [February 9, 1891] and returning Tuesday. He
found that the new trucks were under the Shay and that she was all
ready to go to work again. Engineer Starbird will bring her up in a
few days and she will probably be kept busy between the top of the
hill and the mines. Mr. Starbird has had a long experience with Shay
locomotives and says that from now on the Shay will be able to do
better work than she has ever done.
[Now after reading the above, it is my belief that the reports from
records showing the Shay being used over the RGS, at the time of
construction, out to Mancos, were run for a test of the new trucks,
and not as a lease by the RGS railroad, or the RGS Construction
Company. The notes on later inventory statement that the Shay was
never operated by the RGS stand to be true, in this case where it was
a test run by the Durango shop. I wonder if they changed the gear
ratio which made it better for the Silverton RR grades. The original gears were 20-41]
It seemed these newspapers were never read for the creation of the Rainbow Route Book which seems strange for a reasearcher book.
