Minarets & Western / Sugar Pine Lumber Co 2-8-2 "Mikado" Locomotives in the USA

Class 101 (Locobase 14276)

Data from []. See also Edward J. Kamholz, Jim Blain, Gregory Kamholz, The Oregon-American Lumber Company: Ain't No More, (Stanford University Press, 2003), p. 53. Works number was 61858 in 1920.

Ordered by the Oregon-American Lumber Company for its Portland, Astoria & Pacific railroad, the O-ALC soon discovered how ill-suited this relatively large Alco was for forest work. In fact, it refused delivery of the engine and sent it off to the M&W.

After its absorption by the Southern Pacific, the 101 retained its number. Later, it was sold to locomotive rebuilder/reseller Birmingham Rail & Locomotive (stock 1262) which sold it to the Aberdeen & Rockfish in 1935 as their #40.

After years of service on the A&R, the railroad stored the 40 in 1950. It languished for 27 years before the A&R sold it to Connecticut's Valley Railroad. Two years of restoration work on the 40 put it back in service in 1979. Years later, the VR began a complete overhaul in 1985, which was completed in 1992. Enforcement of the 1,472-day limit on operations put it in the shops until 2008.

Class E-4 / Mk-10 (Locobase 8727)

Data from SP Menke All Time Steam Locomotive diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also [], accessed 9 September 2007.

One could have figured these Mikados were intended for a logging road - their low drivers and short wheelbase suggest as much. The San Joaquin Valley's river system promised to support a lot of hydro-electric power and the San Joaquin Electric Company was formed in 1902 in northern California. They created the Crane Valley Reservoir, which was later renamed Bass Lake when it was restocked after all of the existing fish died from SJEC actions.

In the 1920s, the M&W was created by the Sugar Pine Lumber Company. A common carrier, the M& served a 53-mile right-of-way from the Fresno vicinity to Wishon, CA, which lay at the western end of Bass Lake. Its primary role was to bring logs to a big sawmill at Pinedale, but that venture failed after eight years.

Class unknown (Locobase 1312)

Data from Bruce (1952). Note that former Coos Bay Lumber Company 2-8-2STs 10 and 11 (Alco works # 68548 in December 1930 and 68276 from December 1929, respectively, seem to be the same design.)

Last of three Mikado tanks for this lumber company and more powerful than the other two. Sugar Pine's bankruptcy in the early 1930s led to the sale of #4 to Pacific Lumber Company and operated as #37 from 1935-1962.

Purchased for tourist railroad WaWa & Concordville where it operated briefly in the late 1960s, bought in 1980 by the Wilmington & Western in Marshallton , DE. Stored there until repairs (1983-1987) made it possible to re-enter service in 1987. In 1990 a dispute over who was to pay for needed repairs idled the locomotive.

In May 2003, the Timber Heritage Museum of Eureka, Calif contracted to buy the 37. In Spring 2006, the locomotive was delivered to the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania to begin a leisurely restoration.