Rayonier, Inc. No. 2

Rayonier, Inc. No. 2 is a three-truck Willamette locomotive built in 1929 by the Willamette Iron & Steel Co. for the Rayonier, Inc. and it was numbered No. 6.

The engine was design to work hauling log trains for the Rayonier, Inc. until 1949, when #6 was sold to Rayonier to work at Sekiu, WA. Renumbered #2, it operated there until 1962, when diesels replaced steam.

That year Jim Gertz bought #2 on condition he remove it from Rayonier’s property, although it took more than a year to move #2 to his home in Port Angeles, WA, where he built a shed to keep the engine protected from the weather.

From 1922 to 1929, the Willamette Works built thirty-three geared locomotives, incorporating refinements such as all-weather cabs, girder frames, super-heaters and piston valves, but the competition did not go unchallenged. Lima developed the Pacific Coast Shay and Heisler built the West Coast Special Heisler.

It is now operational at the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad.

Trivia

• This is the last engine built by the Willamette Iron & Steel Works in Portland, OR.
• It was destined for the J. Neils Lumber Company in Klickitat, WA.
• Pacific Coast Shay Pickering Lumber #11 is shown earlier on this page, and you can see West Coast Special Heisler West Fork Logging #91 next.
• Only the Climax Works did not produce a model to compete with the Willamette as its sales had already dropped substantially by then and, in 1928, the company ceased construction of locomotives entirely.
• In 2002, after forty years in storage, Gertz donated #2 to the MRSR. Restoration started in 2006 and the locomotive made its first public appearance in steam on August 8, 2009.

Gallery