Steamscape: Roundtop Creek. Rayonier Lumber Willamette #2 heads north out of Mineral, Washington, crossing the little wooden bridge over Roundtop Creek with string of log bunks.
Although the #2 looks like a Shay, she wasn't born in Lima, Ohio. She's a 3-truck, oil-burning, Willamette Locomotive, built in 1929 by the Willamette Iron & Steel Works in Portland, Oregon. She's a native to the region, not a transplant. Some may ask: "What's the difference between a Shay and a Willamette....I mean, besides the manufacturer?" The answer is in the details. Willamette made a number of changes to Ephraim Shay's original design, all aimed at making a locomotive that was more powerful and efficient. All Willamettes were superheated, which meant they used less water and less fuel....key considerations in an environment where trackside fuel and water tanks were almost non-existent. Willamettes also had Walschaerts Valve Gear, which was an improvement over the Stephenson Valve Gear used on Shays. The Walschaerts Gear not only improves power and economy, but also makes the machinery easier to service. These differences are not something you can easily see in a photo, but new Willamette owners could definitely measure the difference in the performance of the machine. Willamette didn't exactly corner the market on new geared engines....they only built 33 of them...but the enhancements in their design gave the whole industry a kick in the butt and resulted in new and better products from their competitors, like Lima (which built most Shays) and Heisler.
