Hillcrest #1 Shay: End of Final Day of Summer 2024 Season

End of day scene with the recently rebuilt Hillcrest #1 Shay locomotive returning to the shop Light-Engine after a day of pulling the visitor train on the narrow-gauge Cowichan Valley Railway at the BC Forest Discovery Centre, in North Cowichan on Vancouver Island.
This was on September 2, 2024, the final day of the Summer 2024 steam season.
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The Hillcrest #1 Shay is a narrow-gauge oil burning steam locomotive in the Cowichan Valley of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
This Class-B Shay has a present-era weight of approximately 28 tons. She was construction number 3147 in 1920 at the factory in Lima Ohio, USA.
After a pre-delivery factory conversion from narrow-gauge to standard-gauge, she arrived at Hillcrest Lumber on Vancouver Island in early 1921, and worked for Hillcrest Lumber in Sahtlam, and then for other companies in the Cowichan Valley and Crofton until 1963.
Following conversion back to narrow-gauge and oil burning, she was donated to the newly formed Cowichan Valley Forest Museum which opened in 1965. This museum is now known as the BC Forest Discovery Centre, located on Drinkwater Road in North Cowichan, on Vancouver Island.
The Hillcrest #1 Shay was one of the steam locomotives that pulled the visitor train in the early years of the forest museum, and she did this from the late 1960s until 1998. Following this, she went into storage, and the visitor train was then pulled mainly by the Vulcan #25 "Samson" steam locomotive.
A rebuild project was started in 2016 and was completed in Spring 2024. The Hillcrest #1 Shay is now in-service, pulling the visitor train on various days during weekends in Summer 2024 and for special events.
The locomotive's steam whistle on this day was a 3 chime Crosby.
bcforestdiscov...

[@GPz84]

Was great meeting you that day Mike. My daughter and I had a great day at the museum.

[@LowLightMike]

Thanks for this. Did I meet you outside the washroom building? (just trying to remember).
Or was it on the train when a nice kid was asking me a million questions?

[@legiontheatregroup]

What a gem that little Shay is! It is so beautifully redone it almost looks like a tabletop model train, lol. My very first cab ride, at the age of six years old, was in a similar 3 foot gauge Shay at Allaire State Park in New Jersey (USA).
If I am not mistaken, Forest Discovery Center has a second Shay which is larger. Are there any long term restoration plans for that locomotive? Great video.

[@LowLightMike]

Thanks for this comment. The BC Forest Discovery Centre has 3 Shay locomotives: The other two are a 42 ton display item (Bloedel Stewart & Welch No.1), and a 50 ton formerly operational Shay (Mayo Lumber No.3). There are no current plans to restore those other 2 to operational status.
bcforestdiscoverycentre.com/our-train-collection-schedules/

[@BrentsVanLife]

Pretty cool Mike

[@LowLightMike]

Thanks, good sir. I appreciate you.

[@germansawmill9576]

This is a beautiful steam engine.
Is it narrow gauge? And was it used to bring lumber to a sawmill?
Thank you for uploading this video

[@LowLightMike]

Yes, it is narrow gauge. It was converted twice in its lifetime. It was factory built as narrow gauge, but the original buyer (Hillcrest Lumber) wanted a narrow gauge locomotive, so Lima converted it at their factory before sending it to the customer. Then in the 1960s, it was converted back to narrow-gauge in preparation for its donation to this forest museum.
It was first used to pull log cars from the forest to a mills, and then later to switch lumber cars at a deep-sea wharf.

[@germansawmill9576]

@@LowLightMike
Does it have a superheater or not.
How much horsepower does it have,
and is it for burning high or low quality coal.
Is the firebox made from copper or steel and what kind of pumps are used to pump in the feedwater?
Steam jet or piston pumps?
Sorry for asking that many questions, I'm very interested in steam engines