Hillcrest #1 Shay: July 6, 2024 Operating Scenes

Various scenes from July 6, 2024 of the recently rebuilt Hillcrest #1 Shay locomotive leaving the shop area, sanding its flues, and pulling the visitor train.
This is on the narrow-gauge Cowichan Valley Railway at the BC Forest Discovery Centre, in North Cowichan on Vancouver Island.
0:00 - Leaving Shop
1:33 - Sanding Flues
3:02 - Forester's Walk Crossing
3:49 - Drinkwater Cut
5:49 - Lower Grounds
6:58 - Alderlea Station
7:40 - Locomotive History
9:58 - Rebuild Project
Photo album is here:
www.flickr.com/photos/1320134...
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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 being tested in-service, pulling the visitor train on various days during weekends in Summer 2024.
The locomotive's steam whistle is a 4 chime Kinsley.
bcforestdiscoverycentre.com/p...

[@tracksidebcproductionsofficial]

Great coverage!

[@LowLightMike]

Thanks MO :)

[@ManiacRacing]

Shay's are just fascinating to watch

[@LowLightMike]

Yes, for sure. And I love the sound too.

[@pwblackmore]

Very good, Mike... some great action, the steam whistle, the views - and especially the history. (Can't help thinking that's your camper at the beginning, where you must be living for now!)

[@LowLightMike]

Thanks for watching. I am now very familiar with the 45 minute drive between my Nanaimo home and the Forest Museum. I know my expected driving time to various landmarks along the way, and so I play a "calculate the minutes" mind-game as I drive. Fun amusement.

[@TwinLitz2]

Is that narrow gauge

[@LowLightMike]

Yes, 3-foot narrow gauge.