U.S. Plywood 2-6-6-2 No. 11
The city of Snoqualmie, Washington, and the Northwest Railway Museum are working together to create a "community icon" in the form of a steam locomotive which will be cosmetically restored and placed on display. The local Chamber of Commerce came up with the idea as a way to identify the community as well as promote the local railway museum and its diesel-powered excursion runs, Former U.S. Plywood 2-6-6-2 No.11, a 1929 Baldwin Mallet, has been selected from the NRM's large steam collection to be painted and placed at the corner of Railroad Avenue and Snoqualmie Parkway, where it will be seen by tourists entering town. No.11 is often associated with the Northwest Railway Museum, formerly known as the Puget Sound Railroad Historical Association. The museum was founded in 1957 and acquired the Mallet in 1971 from the University of Washington in Seattle, where it had been displayed since 1961. It was built as a 2-6-6-2T for the Ostrnnder Railway & Timber Company as their No.?, but was later sold to the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, which removed its side tanks and added a tender converted from an 8000 gallon tank ear. In 1950 the engine moved to Resume, Washington, to become Resume Timber Company No.11, and continued in service when that company became part of the United States Plywood Corporation in 1953.
No.11 was retired in the early 1960s and donated to the University of Washington for placement in front of the College of Forestry at the end of a nearby railroad spur. It went on exhibit in January 1962, but by 1971 the space was needed for college expansion. The Puget Sound Railroad Historical Association was among several groups that expressed interest in obtaining the engine. Over a period of a few months volunteers from the group replaced No.11's missing parts, lobed it and obtained a state boiler certificate which allowed them to steam up the 2-6-6-2 and run it off University property under its own power! At the museum site in Snoqualmie, No.11 was given a minor going over and placed into regular service on the Puget Sound & Snoqualmie Valley Railroad pulling tourist trains.
No. 11 operated on the PS&SV until it required new flues in 1982, when it was stored while Rayonier 2-8-2 No.70 took over its passenger duties. When a boiler crack sidelined the Mikado in 1983, a decision was made to retube No. 11, and it returned to service in May 1985. Volunteers overhauled the engine's running gear between 1988 and 1989, thinking it would be useable for many more years to come. This was not to be the case, as in 1990 a pin worked loose on No.11's low-pressure engine and fell out causing major damage, including one broken connecting rod and another badly bent. Around this time, the museum was evicted from its small yard, and without a place to rebuild No.11, hopes of getting the 2-6-6-2 back into service evaporated, despite the fact that new rods had been fabricated.
The Puget Sound Railroad Historical Association was reorganized as the Northwest Railway Museum, and has been making good progress with many fine restorations and acquisitions, including a Northern Pacific rotary snowplow and Fairbanks-Morse switcher previously covered in this column. While today's trains are diesel powered, the museum hopes to return steam to the rails some day, including No.11. -- Thanks to Frank Schticklemeyer
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