Logging Train - NOT a Common Sight (2 of 5)

Last week I posted about a logging train, a common sight in many forests in North America. The logging train was the common sight; the type of locomotive being used on the train was not common. Last week I featured a "Tank Engine". This week I am featuring a gear-driven type of locomotive. The steam locomotive that is most familiar to people has a steam-driven piston on either side of the front of the locomotive. These pistons push a rod that is connected to cranks (bars) that are attached to the driving wheels of the locomotive. Each push and retraction of the piston equals one rotation of the driving wheel. The larger the driving wheel, the faster the locomotive can travel; the smaller the driving wheel, the more powerful is the locomotive. But, there is a limit as to how small the driving wheels can be without having a piston stroke that is just not practical. Logging in mountainous territory requires power to get up the steep hillsides. Moving up the mountain side requires power that would make the piston stroke unreasonable. The solution is to change how the steam’s power is transferred to the driving wheels from cranks to gears. There are three typical designs of geared locomotives: the not-so-common Climax, and the Shay were well known and used.

The Heisler locomotive, as shown on the front of this post card was the third. The following information was taken from the website: https://www.american-rails.com/heisler.html The Heisler steam locomotive was the other popular and well-known geared design built in the late 19th century. However, likely due to the fact that it did not hit the market until the early 1890s, a few years after the Climax and Shay had already begun production (the Shay was first built in 1880), it was not as successful. Despite this the Heisler did sell several hundred units and interestingly, remained in production until nearly the start of World War II (by comparison the Climax ended production in 1928). Additionally, just like its competitors the Heisler was offered in two and three-truck designs, although manufacturers also built them to nearly a dozen different specifications. Today, according to the book, West Virginia Logging Railroads, by William Warden at least eight Heislers are still in operation and more than thirty others are preserved around the world. A few places you can see them running include the Roaring Camp & Big Trees Railroad in Felton, California which has 2-truck #2, built for West Side Lumber; Roots of Motive Power in Willits which maintains Blake Brothers 2-truck #6; and Meadow River Lumber Company 3-truck #6 at the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad in rural Durbin, West Virginia. End of information from the website!

The post card is, again, part of my collection that includes the photographs of Darius Kinsey from Washington State. This picture was taken in 1922. Kinsey, born in Maryville, Missouri, moved to Snoqualmie, Washington, where he took up photography in 1890. He worked as an itinerant photographer for several years, until meeting Tabitha May Pritts at Nooksack, Washington. The couple married in 1896. The following year, they set up a photo studio in Sedro-Woolley, Washington. In 1906, the couple moved to Seattle. Darius gave up studio work and focused instead on the lumber industry and scenic photography. Tabitha developed the negatives and made the prints, which were sent back to the logging camps and sold to the loggers. Darius used an 11" X 14" Empire State view camera with a custom made tripod that could extend twelve feet high. He used glass plates until 1914, when he switched to film. The major collection of his work is held by the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington. The University of Washington Libraries also has a collection of his work.