Geared Steam Locos: Six Logging Lines

This anthology brings you three types of gritty geared locomotives running on six different logging lines. Animations show the types of geared motive power that enabled Shays, Climaxes and Heislers to muscle up steep grades of 5-6% that would have defeated conventional steam. 

Travel deep into mountain logging country in California, British Columbia and West Virginia to witness these locos dwarfed by the tall trees they bore out of the woods, fording streams and crossing trestles. Plenty of newly released footage of vintage, working rail. Some of these locos still operate today on scenic lines—a must for all fans of steam logging!  

Cinematography by railroad greats Glenn Beier, Guy Brant, Mac Owen, and August A. Thieme.

Gears in the Woods

Ten different logging companies, from Arizona to British Columbia, Canada comprise this sweeping survey of working life in the tall timber of the West:
• Southwest Forest Industries (Arizona)
• West Side Flume and Logging (California)
• The Feather River (California)
• The Klickitat or St. Regis Paper (Washington State)
• The Rayonier (both lines on Olympic Peninsula, WA)
• MacMillan-Bloedel (Vancouver Island, BC)
• Hillcrest Lumber (British Columbia, Canada)
• Osborne Bay Warf (Vancouver Island, BC)
• Yreka Western (California)
• McCleod River (California)
You'll see the Feather River Shays high on S-curved trestles, getting a run at a 5 1/2% grade with 25 degree curves, and the fireworks pin-wheel of Climaxes tackling 6% grades on the Hillcrest. Heislers dance around the log dump like daddy long legs spiders. Climb in to the cab as Rayonier Mallet #8 heads for tall timber and returns with logs of Bunyan size. Two versions of the McLeod operation: first, a double-headed fan trip with an SP daylight consist and - in the 10 foot drifts of February - a sparkling vignette in brilliant sunshine with Mt Shasta towering behind. 54 minutes

Complete West Side Story

This is the story of West Side Flume and Logging Co Railroad, the little railroad that moved the big wood out of the mountains of California! Gargantuan logs ride narrow rails down slot canyons and over dizzying trestles. Shays and heislers battle impossible grades to make the high camps. It’s all here: the air-borne ballet at the reloads with ten-ton logs poised for feather light placement, the explosive water dumps, the log camps, water tanks, skeleton flat cars — even the very last train to run on The West Side. This work of devotion by filmmaker Glenn Beier presents the colorful drama of working amid the tall timber of the West. 49 minutes

Feather River & The Hillcrest

Flooding behind the Oroville Dam eventually drowned the Feather River Railway and its magnificent canyon scenery, but not before Glenn Beier had the chance to commit almost the entire line to film. This includes the 90-ton monster Shays barreling across an S-curved trestle above the awesome gorge of the South Fork to tackle the famous 5.3% grade. The refurbishing and delivery of surplus Shay #1 to Oroville for exhibition follows in this in-depth film of California’s last steam-operated common carrier. More than 25% of all logging locomotives in British Columbia, including rod engines, were Climaxes. Here you’ll see the company that specialized in Climaxes, The Hillcrest, and their #10. The engine works the mill yards at Honeymoon Bay and Lake Mesachie and takes off on the main line to Lake Cowichan, winding between the dramatically lit lakes and mountains of Vancouver Island. With its cylinders canted at a rakish 45 degree angle, a Climax in action resembled nothing so much as a fireworks pin wheel, but the men who worked them in the woods swore they were the world’s best geared locomotives. Finally, Comox is a brief look at the rod engines of the Comox Railway working at Headquarters and Ladysmith. 45 minutes