Crossett Western 2-8-2 "Mikado" Locomotives in the USA

Class 10 (Locobase 14273)

Data from [] . See also MacBeau ,"Meeting a Minaret", posted on 18 July 2009 on the Steam & Excursion forum of TrainOrders.com at [],1978414. Works numbers were 67652 in 1929 and 68057 in 1930.

This logging engine's big saddle tank had a horsecollar cross section, but stood very tall on the boiler, which gave it a slab-sided look; they were very much sisters to the Long Bell Lumber locomotives of four years earlier (Locobase 14274).

Like many logging engines, the 110 served several masters. First was Crossett Western, then based in Wauna, Ore. In 1943, the 10 went to Hammond & Little River Redwood of Samoa, CA as their #16. After Hammond was bought out by Georgia-Pacific Corp in 1953, the engine worked into the 1960s.

After its retirement, the 16 was bought by Harold Morgan of the Fortuna Kiwanis Club Fortuna, CA, which put it on display in a local park beginning in November 1966. Eventually, the 16 wound up with the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad (BYCX) where it was renumbered for the Crossett Western.

See the Mount Rainer Scenic Railway's description of the very similar path taken by the 11 at [] . Briefly, the 11 was sold to Hammond Lumber, which renumberd it 17. It last worked for a logger in 1945, when a fire at Hammond left it stranded and idle. Local lumberman Gus Peterson bought the engine in 1964, heroically disassembled it and trucked it out of its "desert isle", reconditioned the engine, and put back in service on his tourist road, the Klamath & Hoppow Valley.

After gas prices and inflation doomed the K&HV, the next angel didn't appear until 1980. He was Tom Murray, Jr., who took the 17 apart a second time and trucked it Tacoma. The Mount Rainier Scenic Railway accepted the engine but couldn't see to its restoration for 14 years. Once begun, however, the project moved swiftly and the engine was back in tourist service in 1995.

In his 2009 post, MacBeau wrote a graphic description of standing in the cab of the 17 when he rode with engineer Hansen: "Working up the hill from Mineral, I got a taste how quickly the cab of a steam locomotive can take on temperatures normally associated with Perdition. Somewhere around the time the pressure in the cylinders reached 80 psi (5.5 bar), the firebox door begin flashing flame from every crack and crevice in a reverse rhythm to the exhaust. My morning shower vanished in the first quarter-mile and the open windows in the back of that cab became like portals of fresh air from Heaven into the outskirts of Hell ...I have a whole new respect for steam crews too-there´s a lot of hot, dirty, attention demanding work going on in that cab amid a deafening cacophony"

Jim Hansen, the engineer MacBeau mentioned, replied on 20 July: "The 17 does have quite a bark, doesn't it, especially when starting five loaded cars on the 2.3% at the trestle. Please do come again sometime to enjoy the lokie that TRAINS Magazine dubbed the 'Brawny Beetle',"

Taken out of service in 2010 to meet FRA regulations, the 17 soon underwent a long process of recertifying the engine for operation. A portion of a blog entry from 11 April 2011--[] a flavor of some of the repairs such a project entails: "The bottom 1/3 of both side sheets had to go, as well as the bottom 8" of the door sheet at the back of the firebox. The throat sheet, at the front of the firebox, was ok, but we knew that we were going to have to replace all of the flexible staybolts in this area due to corrosion, so we decided to replace the inside throat sheet as well. We also decided to remove most of the riveted seam above the firebox door opening as it was riddled with past repairs that did not meet our standard of quality."