N&W in 1907 -- Shay Locomotive

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
September 8, 1907

IN CITY AND COALFIELD
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    Shay engine No. 56, the biggest engine ever seen in this locality, is now doing service on the hill between here and Graham.  It has eight drive wheels on a side, or rather eight big wheels that run by cogs, and its propelling power is said to be fully double that of one of the big M engines.  There are no pony trucks.

[Both Jeffries and Prince in their respective books mention the use of this Shay to serve mines on steep branches, but this article is the first account that I can remember seeing that has the Shay pushing trains upgrade from Graham into Bluefield Yard.  This pusher service could very well have been the original purpose of acquiring the Shay because the engine had been purchased new from Lima sometime the previous month.  Its slow speed pushing upgrade may not have been much of a disadvantage, but its slow return downgrade{compared to a rod engine} to get into position to push another train could have been a bigger problem.]

Gordon Hamilton
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