Simpson Timber Company #1200 leads a train of empties through a clearing in the forest on the way to the Dry Sort Yard at Mill Five. Once this train arrives at Mill Five, these unique homemade centerbeams will be loaded with rough cut lumber, which will return to Shelton for planing and finishing at the massive Mill 3 on the Shelton waterfront. This is the last operating remnant of the once extensive Simpson Timber Company system, where tracks once stretched up to 100 miles into the forests of the Olympic Peninsula in search of timber. The locomotive, SW1200 #1200 is a rare example of a SW1200 built with dynamic brakes in deference to the steep grades on the railroad which can reach up to 6%.
