1905 Shay Locomotive - Locomotives on Waymarking.com

1905 Shay Locomotive
In 1882, Ephraim Shay assigned the rights of the locomotive that would bear his name to a company that would eventually become Lima Locomotive Works, in Lima, Ohio. Shays could burn coal, oil or wood, and varied from tiny two cylinder, tow truck models to three cylinder, four truck monsters weighing over 400,000 pounds. The Shay produced a distinctive sound. The rapid firing of the cylinders made it sound like it was going about 60 MPH when it actually chugged along at 12 MPH! The locomotive was capable of climbing grades as great as 14 percent. Shay locomotives were produced until 1945. There were 2771 Shays built, of which approximately 84 still exist. It's a testimony to the Shay design and quality that many of these remain in active service, most in tourist railroads.
The Shay engine displayed in Harrod was manufactured in September 1905 at the Lima Locomotive Works, Lima, Ohio. It was built for the Tioga Lumber Company, Nicholas County, West Virginia. It was designated C/N 1568 and was owned by several lumber companies over the years. In 1963 it was reported to be the last Shay engine operating in daily log train service in the country! The Georgia-Pacific Lumber Company owned the engine at that time.
C/N 1568 was purchased in 1964 and moved by truck to Wytheville, Virginia. It was operated in a theme park called Dry Gulch Junction at Big Walker Mountain until 1972. In 1978 the Shay developed a throat sheet crack and the expense to repair it was more than the struggling operation could bear. That was to be the last time the locomotive was under steam.
Another entrepreneur with the intention of developing a tourist railway purchased the Shay. Unsuccessful attempts to secure right-of-way for the proposed project ended that endeavor and the Shay was sold to a Florida shipyard owner. Details are very sketchy in this chapter of the engine's life. There were rumors at one point that it had been cut up and sold for scrap. Apparently those rumors were started to deter vandalism and theft of parts from the engine. In 1992, an advertising circular from a North Carolina dealer, keeping the secrecy of the exact whereabouts of the engine, listed it for sale and ended the speculation about its demise to the scrap pile.
American House, Inc., created to preserve Lima history and cultural heritage, purchased the engine and transported it from Mossy Head, Florida to Lima, Ohio. A commendable effort was made to chronicle the Lima Locomotive Works and its workers but the decision to disband was made in 1996 and the Auglaize Township Historical Society was given the opportunity to purchase the Shay. In doing so, an important part of our local history and heritage was able to be kept in the Lima, Ohio area where it was manufactured so many years earlier. The Shay was dismantled and transported by truck from Lima to its present location Harrod in 1996.
http://www.shaylocomotives.com/data/lima2399/sn-1568.htm
For those who can't provide a photo please send me an email with the answer:
Next to the train there are 3 military memorials. One for air, one for sea, and one for land. Please tell me what one of them are. Gallery images by myself are licensed under "Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0".

Locomotive Type: (required): Steam Do you need to pay an entrance fee to view this locomotive? (required): No How accessible is this locomotive display? (Required): Display is designed to allow additional climbing access. If "other" what is the engine type? (optional): Not listed If a fee is required what is the approximate cost for admittance? (optional): Not listed

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