A century-old piece of railroad history returns to the Sierra. See ‘Shay No. 12’
The narrow-gauge locomotive was once the prevalent working machine of the logging industry; designed for the rigors of work, particularly the maneuvering of steep grades and tight curves of the mountainous terrain.
In its heyday, there were thousands of these stream-driven train engines operating for logging companies on tracks throug out the Sierra Nevada and across the state.
There are now less than 100.
Of those, the number that remain operational is fractional.
“You’re counting on two hands,” says Scott McGhee, general manager of the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad, just off of Highway 41 in Fish Camp. The company, which runs historical tours along four miles of old-logging railway inside Sierra National Forest, has two working steam engines.
It’s adding a third.
History of West Side Lumber Co.’s Shay #12
On Monday, the railroad took ownership of Shay #12, a 60-ton, three-truck steam engine built by Lima Locomotive Works in 1926 (or, 1927, depending on the source).
Shay refers to the model type of geared locomotive that was popular in the logging industry at the turn of the 1900s (and later with train enthusiasts). The machines were versatile and offered easy maintenance for railway crews.
This particular engine originally belonged to the Swayne Lumber Company and began life as engine #6. When it was acquired by West Side Lumber Company in Tuloumne in the 1930s, it took the #12 moniker, according to McGhee.
“It lived at West Side all the way until the end of operation in 1961,” around the time a fire destroyed the mill, McGhee says.
In the 1980s, the train engine was acquired by the Georgetown Loop Railroad, a tourist railroad in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains and was there until 2004, when it went to Colorado Railroad museum.
It was at the museum until it was trucked out west last week.
“It hasn’t run in more than 15 years,” McGhee says, though the boiler (which creates the steam to drive the engine) was tested last month. “It needs some work before it’s going to be running,” he says, but the boiler is in working order. “The rest of it can be fixed.”
The railroad hopes to have the train operational sometime this year.
It will split work with the railroad’s other engines (#10 and #15) in carrying tourists on one of several curated (and narrated) train rides. That includes the Jazz Train (which ends with a music performance) and the under-the-stars Moonlight Special (which includes dinner and a stopover at Lewis Creek Canyon).
The railroad opens its season in April.
Bringing Shay #12 back to the West Coast and the Sierra has been a long time coming, McGhee says. The railroad had its eye on the train as far back as 2004, but it took until now for things to align.
“It’s kind of like ‘Shawshank Redemption,’” he says.
“It’s patience and time.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "A century-old piece of railroad history returns to the Sierra. See ‘Shay No. 12’."