Date and Location Unknown. Logging Crew with Shay Locomotive No. 315, Railroad Unknown

A so-called Shay locomotive is pictured with its logging crew.  Built to power most, if not all of its wheeled trucks, using a unique mechanism consisting of a side-mounted crankshaft and individual wheel driving gears, Shays were built for operation on back-country uneven, often steep, logging, mining and industrial temporary railroads.  Because of advantageous weight distribution over most, if not all, wheels Shays could negotiate up to 6% grades with minimal wheel slippage, while conventional steam engines struggle to negotiate 2% grades.  The balloon smokestack suggests that this photograph was taken before 1900.

This image was likely taken on a large format camera, probably a 5×7 or 8×10 size.  The original print suffers a loss of shadow detail, as the photograph appears to have been taken with the sun coming from behind the crewman, leaving the side of the engine facing the photographer in full shade.  Even with its technical shortcomings, this photograph tells a complete story of loggers using advanced technology for its time to get freshly cut logs to the sawmill and on to market much faster than a horse-drawn logging skid would allow..

Image is a high resolution scan of an 11×14 print, therefore the original negative is unavailable for printing.  An inkjet print will be provided from the digital file if ordered.

Ernest Robert’s collection of railroad photographs, on loan from his daughter, provides a rare opportunity for rail fans to purchase silver halide photographic prints from many of his large format negatives–some taken by him and others purchased from photographers and collectors. Other collection images requiring digital restoration will yield inkjet prints.  Original prints in the collection have been copied digitally under rigorous lighting conditions providing inkjet prints of the highest possible quality.

See coloradoinblackandwhite.com in the coming weeks for many more Ernest Roberts Railroad Photography images.

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