|
An Operating Steam Locomotive at the Museum
Between 1850 and 1950, railways were the primary means of moving goods
and people by land in Canada. The steam locomotive reigned supreme
— so much so that they continue to fascinate and excite the imagination
of people young and old. The Museum has a variety of steam locomotives on
exhibit that trace the development of the technology in Canada through the
1900s. The majority of these engines are large machines that weigh more than
190 tons (172 tonnes). The Canadian Pacific 2858 (670006*) on exhibit is
typical of the machines used along the railway corridors linking Canadian
communities from coast to coast. While none of the engines on permanent
exhibit have operated since the early 1960s, a small but powerful Shay steam
locomotive has been restored to operating condition. Merrill & Ring Lumber
Co., Ltd locomotive No. 3 (740755) was acquired by the Museum from
Crown Zellerbach in 1974 as an example of a geared locomotive used in the
British Columbia forestry industry before 1950.
The Museum's Shay
locomotive in
operation in 1997
after being restored
by Museum staff and
volunteers. (CSTM)
|
The Museum's Shay
locomotive is an
excellent example of
how function, materials and environment combined to influence the final form
of a machine. The Shay was a commercially successful geared steam
locomotive, initially conceived by an American lumber merchant,
Ephraim Shay. In 1880, Shay arranged for the Lima Machine Works (which
later became Lima Locomotive Works, Inc.) of Lima, Ohio, to work on a
prototype locomotive to replace the teams of horses and oxen he was using to
move logs to his mills. This association with the Lima Machine Works was an
auspicious beginning and the Shay design became a stock item of the
company. Over the next sixty-five years, the design of the Shay locomotive
was considerably refined. When the last Shay locomotive was completed in
1945, the Lima Locomotive Works had built 2771 of these machines. They
ranged in size from smaller, narrow-gauge engines to locomotives weighing
more than 145 tons (131 tonnes).
* The numbers in brackets are the accession numbers of artifacts held by
the Museum.
|
