Monday, the Oregon Coast Scenic crew loaded the locomotive’s boiler on a trailer in Chehalis, Wash., for the trip to its shops in Garibaldi, near Tillamook. There, the rebuilt boiler was placed back on its rebuilt running gear Tuesday morning for the first time in more than 54 years.
Chris Baldo is the third owner of Skookum since its last derailment in 1955. He has dedicated his time and resources to preserving this piece of Northwest logging railroad history.
The first owner was Charlie Morrow, a Seattle railfan who bought the locomotive from the insurance company that insured Deep River Logging, its last operator. Morrow dismantled it in 1960 and shipped the locomotive to the Northwest Railroad Museum at Snoqualmie Falls, Wash., where it was stored for many decades.
Oregon Coast Scenic rebuilt the tender and boiler at its shops in Chehalis, Wash., several years ago. Throughout the past two years attention has been to the rebuilding of the Skookum‘s running gear at the shops in Garibaldi. While this was going on, Baldo had a new wooden cab fabricated for the locomotive using the same materials and patterns originally used by Baldwin.
The locomotive was built as a coal-burner in 1909 for the Little River Railroad as its No. 126. It was the first of only three 2-4-4-2s built. The locomotive also worked for the Columbia River Belt, Whitney & Co., Larkin & Green Logging, Carlisle Lumber Co., and Deep River Logging Co. It was at Deep River Logging on the afternoon of Feb. 23, 1955, that the Skookum derailed on a short trestle and rolled over on its side, ending its logging career.
