Columbia River Belt Line 7

In 1909, the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, received an order by Tennessee's Little River Railroad to construct a Mallet locomotive.[1][2] The Little River Railroad's president, Colonel W. B. Townsend, wanted his company to experiment with a locomotive that would be light enough to negotiate light-weight rails and tight curves while being powerful enough to pull longer trains than an average steam engine of the time.[2] Baldwin subsequently came out with the first Mallet they would ever build for a logging company; No. 7 rolled out of the factory in June 1909, originally carrying the number 126, and it was without a name.[3][4] It was a one-off design, having carried the unusual 2-4-4-2 wheel configuration, and it was capable of negotiating a 160-ft-radius curve.[3] It was originally ordered and built as a coal burner, but it was converted to burn oil very shortly before delivery.[3]

After No. 126 was delivered, the Little River Railroad used it for some trial runs on their trackage.[1] In the process, the locomotive derailed on curves multiple times, and it was discovered that No. 126 was too heavy for the light-weight rails.[1][2] Unsatisfied with its weight, the railroad sent the engine back to Baldwin less than one month after its delivery.[1] Baldwin subsequently built a smaller 2-4-4-2, No. 148, for the Little River Railroad's needs, and they offered No. 126 for sale to other companies.[5][1] After sitting in Baldwin's factory yard for a short while, No. 126 was purchased in June 1910 by the Whitney Logging Company of Blind Slough, Oregon.[2] The locomotive was soon delivered to Blind Slough, where the company, whose practice was to give their engines names instead of numbers, removed the number 126 and added the name "Skookum" (where "skookum" is a Chinook term meaning "strong, powerful, reliable").[1][2][4]

The Whitney Logging Company assigned Skookum to work for its rail subsidiary, the Columbia River Belt Line Railway.[4] Skookum quickly exceeded all expectations over its performance, as it successfully pulled trains without any problems.[1][2] One factor to this might have been the CRBL's trackage having more support for the engine, compared to Little River's trackage. During 1911, Skookum's success was covered in several local newspapers.[2] The positive press led to Baldwin receiving additional orders to build nearly 50 other Mallet engines for other logging companies within the coming years.[1][2] Skookum continued to faithfully serve the CRBL until 1920, when it was sold to the Larkin-Green Lumber Company, who was also in Blind Slough.[4]

They quickly sold the engine to the Carlisle-Pennell Lumber Company of Onalaska, Washington, who removed the name "Skookum" and added the number 7, before it was placed into service there.[4] During its time there, the locomotive was rebuilt with additional handrails on the pilot deck, and the air pump was relocated to the front of the smokebox door.[4] Beginning in 1924, No. 7 was transferred to Carlisle-Pennell's subsidiary, the Newaukum Valley Railroad.[4] From 1930 to 1931, at the start of the Great Depression, No. 7 was leased to the Mud Bay Logging Company to pull lumber trains between Mud Bay and Olympia.[4] After the lease, the engine was moved back to Carlisle-Pennell's property, but by 1933, the company had cleared out all of their timber lands.[4] With No. 7 no longer needed in Onalaska, it was sold again to the Deep River Logging Company of Deep River, Washington.[4]

DRLCo undid the modifications Carlisle-Pannell made to No. 7, and the locomotive was used to pull their heavier lumber trains.[4] It was commonly selected as the company's primary choice of motive power, due to its greater power and traction, compared to the rest of DRLCo's roster.[1][2] Later, in the early 1950s, DRLCo began to consider discontinuing their rail operations, due to their decrease in traffic, and they subsequently decided to have all of their remaining locomotives scrapped and their remaining rails ripped up by the end of 1955.[1] On the afternoon of February 23, 1955, No. 7 was moving in reverse with a string of empty freight cars to pick up a heavy load.[6][7] However, when it reached a small trestle near Grays Harbor, its tender hit a broken piece of rail, making it derail and hang halfway on the trestle, and the entire engine precariously leaned towards one side.[1][6][7] The crews dropped the fire, came off and examined the situation, and they felt the Mallet seemed stable enough to remain still, so they left it and waited until the next morning to re-rail it, using the company's ALCO 2-6-2 engine.[1][6]

The fireman also chose to keep the crown sheet covered with water overnight, so the engine would be ready for service the next day, but as water was injected into the boiler, it affected the center of gravity for No. 7.[1][6] When crews came back for No. 7, the center of gravity gave out, and the locomotive completely toppled onto its side off of the short trestle.[1] Despite the locomotive receiving minimal damage from hitting the soft ground and a muddy creek bed, the crews saw no easy way to move it upright onto the rails.[1] With DRLCo only having a few months left of operating time, and with the ALCO 2-6-2 still operable, it was decided to simply abandon No. 7 right where it sat.[1] When scrapping commenced on the company's remaining fleet, the scrappers opted not to torch No. 7, because it was too inconvenient to get the remains out of the remote area where the Mallet sat.[1]

In 1956, rail fan Charlie Morrow became aware of No. 7's abandoned status in the woods.[1][4] He had known about No. 7's fame for its innovative design for years, and he decided to contact the scrappers with the possibility of buying it.[1][8] He successfully managed to purchase the Mallet for its scrap value of $1,200.[4][6] Morrow subsequently co-founded a group alongside other rail fans, called the Puget Sound Railway Historical Association, in dedication of bringing No. 7 back under steam.[4][8] In the summer of 1960, the process of moving the locomotive out of the woods began, but since the rails had been ripped up years prior, and with roadways not being located close by, Morrow and his fellow PSRHA members had to disassemble No. 7 and move it in sections.[1][8] No. 7's boiler and frame had been attached to each other since the 1909 construction date, and the PSRHA members struggled to have them separated with the rusty bolts locking them together.[1] As a last resort, they decided to blast them apart, using dynamite, and the boiler and frame were finally separated.[1]

Soon, the boiler, frame and tender were separately shipped to PARHA's location in Snoqualmie, Washington, where restoration work to get No. 7 running again was expected to quickly begin.[1][4] For reasons unknown, the PARHA's plans to restore and run No. 7 had fallen through, and the Mallet instead sat, disassembled in PARHA's Niblock Yard for the next few decades with little activity done on it.[4] In 1978, Morrow passed away, and No. 7 fell under ownership of an estate company, who in turn sold it to a California-based logger, Rohan Coombs.[1][4][6][7] Coombs kept No. 7 in Snoqualmie, while he explored options for the Mallet's future.[4] In 1996, Coombs had the pieces relocated to the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad in Mineral, Washington.[1][4] The plan was to have the locomotive restored and eventually ran on Mount Rainier's trackage, but this also fell through.[1]

Skookum undergoing restoration inside the OCSR's Garibaldi engine shed in June 2015

In 2004, Coombs began experiencing failing health, and he contacted another rail fan, Chris Baldo, about purchasing the engine before his passing.[6] Baldo agreed to purchase No. 7, and with the help of a young rail apprentice, Scott Wickert, No. 7's frame and running gear were moved to the recently-established Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad in Garibaldi, Oregon for repairs.[4][6] The boiler and tender were moved to Chehalis, Washington to undergo an extensive rebuilding process.[7] Baldo also had an exact replica of No. 7's original wooden cab made from scratch.[7] During the restoration, it was decided to revert the engine to its CRBL livery with its "Skookum" name, but also having it retain its road-number 7. Years later, on December 15, 2014, the rebuilt boiler was moved to Garibaldi by truck, and the next day, it was lifted and reunited with the frame.[7] The tender was also moved to an Oregon Coast engine house in Tillamook for temporary storage.[9]

In January 2018, McCloud Railway locomotive 25 towed Skookum's tender from Tillamook to Garibaldi, and the following day, the tender was reunited with No. 7.[9] In October 2018, No. 7 was steamed up for the first time in nearly 69 years, and on behalf of Pete Lerro, it took part in a public photo charter alongside McCloud Railway 25 and Polson Logging Co. 2.[10] During the charter, however, Skookum was experiencing some timing issues with the engineer side low pressure steam chest, and this prevented the Mallet from traveling any further from the Garibaldi engine shed.[10][11] Once the Pete Lerro charter ended, No. 7 was moved back inside the engine shed, and crews began examining the engine's running gear.[11] The discovered timing issue originated in the high pressure eccentric valves.[11] This was fixed with new keys being made and installed for the eccentric valves.[11] In December, Skookum was steamed up again for a test run, and it ran under its own power without incident.[11]

On March 2, 2019, Skookum made its official first public run, and several years restoration work on the engine was finally completed.[6] Some days later, the engine participated in two public photo charters that were sponsored by Trains Magazine, and McCloud 25 and Polson Logging 2 also took part.[12] In April No. 7 steamed to Tillamook, its last operation on Oregon soil;[13] the engine and tender were subsequently loaded into separate heavy-haul trucks and transported south to the Niles Canyon Railway.[13] After arriving in the NCRY's location in Sunol, California, No. 7 spent the entirety of the 2019 summer months pulling excursion trains on NCRY's trackage alongside their own locomotives.[14] In March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCRY closed to the public and No. 7 was left in storage.[15] In September 2020, the NCRY reopened to the public, with Skookum pulling several other excursions in the ensuing months, including a May 1, 2021 run to benefit the restoration of Southern Pacific 1744.[15][16] No. 7 currently remains at the NCRY’s location, but it is unknown whether it will remain there or be moved to another railroad location.