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New Mexico/Oregon Lumber Co. No. 7 is a 3 truck, 3ft gauge shay built on November 20th, 1929 by Lima for the New Mexico Lumber Company.

Service[]

It was shipped by Lima on the 21st of November 1929 and was held at Pueblo, Colorado by Lima pending receipt of cash or an acceptable sales order. The shay was then purchased by Lima's west coast dealer Hofius Iron & Steel in Seattle, Washington. Released December 2nd, 1929, and arrived in Dolores, and placed in service 3 January 1930. NMLC later defaulted on the note, and Hofius repossessed the locomotive, shipping it to their Seattle facility. on the 24th of March 1931. It sat there for about 10 years. During that time, the Rio Grande Southern had entertained the idea of purchasing the locomotive, but they had been struggling financially. Oregon Lumber Company had purchased it, shipped to Baker City, and onward to the Oregon Lumber Company lines. Apparently, at that time OLC equipped it with a RUSHTON (cabbage) stack, their preference for their woodburning locomotives and had added extra wood storage on the water tender sometime later. Sometime between the 40s and 50s, The No. 7 was converted to be oil fired and stayed in that condition for the rest of its time in service until 1960.

Preservation[]

In 1960 the locomotive was sold to Elliott Donnelly, Chicago Printing magnate and benefactor of the Hesston Steam Museum. The locomotive was sent to the Black Hills Central in South Dakota as their No. 7 for a short while until 1970. No. 7 was trucked to the Hesston Steam Museum where it underwent a five-year full restoration.  The rebuilt locomotive was unveiled in 1975 where it ran for ten years until the Shay was badly damaged when the engine house burned to the ground in 1985 at the Museum.  After another restoration the engine finally returned to the rails in 2006 for the Hesston Steam Museums 50th Anniversary.

Trivia[]

  • Last narrow gauge Shay ever built
  • Largest narrow gauge Shay ever built.
  • Could of been bought by the RGS, but they were struggling financially.
  • Was on display at the Black Hills Central

Sources: https://www.shaylocomotives.com/data/factsheet/sn-3345.htm https://hesston.org/-shay7

Gallery[]

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