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avatar Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 09, 2014 10:47PM
Does anyone know if there is a surviving train engine from the Yosemite Valley Railroad on display anywhere? I thought I saw a photo from about a year or so ago of someone standing next to a train engine and it was captioned in a way that led me to believe the engine was the one I am asking about, and that it was in Merced. But repeated internet searches have come up empty lately. We are thinking of traveling through Merced after a long weekend in Yosemite. Any suggestions or info would be helpful. Thanks everyone.
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avatar Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 10, 2014 06:24AM
There is a Shay on display in El Portal, by the post office. I believe that was from the Hetch Hetchy area and not the YVR.
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avatar Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 10, 2014 10:29AM
Quote
Dave
There is a Shay on display in El Portal, by the post office. I believe that was from the Hetch Hetchy area and not the YVR.


http://yosemitephotos.net/main.php/v/rail/sh-dscn2606.jpg.html
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avatar Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 10, 2014 03:21PM
That must be what I saw on line before. Having never noticed it before, despite having driven through and stopping at El Portal many times, I am certainly going to make a history stop this time. Are there any other ruins or remains of the original railroad that stopped there? Buildings, water towers, homes, train station, etc.?
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DavidK42
Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 10, 2014 07:10PM
I'm not sure about what's still standing there but, if you're interested in the Yosemite RR and haven't seen it, you'll probably want to get a copy of Hank Johnston's Short Line to Paradise. It's a quick read but has lots of great old pictures (like most of HJ's books). He's also got Railroads of the Yosemite Valley but I've not read that one yet.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2014 07:18PM by DavidK42.
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avatar Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 10, 2014 11:41PM
To the right of the Shay is a recently rebuilt turntable. To the right of that is a YRR building that was moved to the spot. And behind the Shay is a caboose that I forgot the history of. To the left of the Shay are a few water tanks that I believe are from the YRR.
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wherever
Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 11, 2014 03:02PM
You can learn a lot of interesting stuff, and see some photos at the YVR web site"

http://www.yosemitevalleyrr.com/
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avatar Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 11, 2014 04:51PM
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thechief
Having never noticed it before, despite having driven through and stopping at El Portal many times, I am certainly going to make a history stop this time.

If you drive through El Portal on 140, you'll miss the railroad exhibits. They're on Foresta Road, the back road through the NPS area that the YARTS buses follow:

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avatar Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 14, 2014 01:21PM
If you have ever taken notice of wheel arrangements on locomotives the Shay has a very unusual arrangement, apparently because the tender is an integral part of the drive assembly instead of a separate car that simply follows behind.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2014 01:23PM by tomdisco.
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avatar Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 14, 2014 02:13PM
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tomdisco
If you have ever taken notice of wheel arrangements on locomotives the Shay has a very unusual arrangement, apparently because the tender is an integral part of the drive assembly instead of a separate car that simply follows behind.

Having gears is unusual as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shay_locomotive
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hotrod4x5
Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 14, 2014 04:00PM
A Shay locomotive is geared so that it can creep up steep inclines, much steeper than an ordinary engine can.
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avatar Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 14, 2014 07:20PM
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tomdisco
If you have ever taken notice of wheel arrangements on locomotives the Shay has a very unusual arrangement, apparently because the tender is an integral part of the drive assembly instead of a separate car that simply follows behind.
That's because all the wheels are on trucks. They can turn independently and go around sharper corners than regular locomotives. And if you look at the gears along the side you'll see that all the wheels are powered. That's a Shay.

A Climax has a drive shaft down the middle that's powered by a piston at about a 45 degree angle, in line with the boiler, on the right side.

A Heisler also has a central drive shaft but the pistons are at about a 45 degree angle, opposed, and connected to the shaft under the boiler.

These are for logging or mining where the tracks were steep and had a lot of sharp turns.
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YosemiteSteve
Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 14, 2014 04:30PM
When you drive the road to Hetch Hetchy, from the entrance station onward, you are on the railroad grade that this Shay rolled upon. That's why it's basically a constant grade, although it is much steeper than most railroads, since a Shay had a lot of torque.

If you go to Rail Town in Jamestown, they have this car which also rolled upon that grade.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2014 04:31PM by YosemiteSteve.
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YosemiteSteve
Re: Yosemite Valley Railroad Engine?
May 14, 2014 04:24PM
Apparently, Engine 29 from the YVRR is in Veracruz, Mexico

http://www.yosemitevalleyrailroad.com/MOTIVE.POWER.HTML.DIR/YV.survivor.html
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