|
McCloud Rails: McCloud River Lumber Company Railroad Equipment
|
|
|
|
The McCloud River Lumber Company did not own much of its own railroad equipment. With the exception of two small Plymouth switchers and the GE 70-tonner #1, the lumber company leased all motive power used in the woods operations from the McCloud River Railroad. The railroad also provided all log cars and most service cars used on the lumber company railroad operations. However, there were a few exceptions. The lumber company did own at least three steam powered cranes. All three were manufactured by Brownhoist and were self-propelled. #8 was the largest of the three, and it was equipped with side rods to help it to propel itself along. The #8 was scrapped in the early 1950's. The other two cranes were smaller than the #8, but were also self propelled. They were numbered 15 and 16. In 1964, the McCloud River Railroad purchased these two cranes. The #15 had been re-built by the lumber company as a diesel powered crane and became McCloud River Railroad #72; the #16 remained steam powered, but was stored in derelict shape. The #16 survived well into the 1980s before being scrapped, while the #15/#72 survived on the railroad until 1986, when it was deeded to the Great Western Railroad Museum as part of a lawsuit settlement. The #72 remained stored in McCloud until scrapped in the fall of 2010. |
|
|
 |
|
Crane #8 rests behind the Pondosa shops along with some other equipment. Photo from the Dennis Sullivan collection. |
|
|
 |
|
An shot of locomotive #4 pushing crane #15. Photo from the Marc Reusser collection. |
|
|
 |
|
Crane #16 at Pondosa, with a steam shovel in the background. Photo from the Dennis Sullivan collection. |
|
|
|
More pictures of the lumber company cranes can be seen in the Cranes Roster page in the Equipment Roster section. |
|
|
|
The lumber company also had some self propelled railbuses used to transport loggers from the camps to the woods. |
|
|
