Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2021.072.025 |
Object Name |
Print, Photographic |
Description |
Hillcrest Lumber Company Climax No. 9 at the Lake Cowichan yards. The locomotive is surrounded by grass and trees, and smoke billows from its chimney. It is a Style B, 45-50 ton 2-truck locomotive and was built by Climax Manufacturing Company. It is one of the very few Climax engines in the world that are in operational condition. |
Image File Name |
1965 - Hillcrest Lumber No. 9 in action - Lake Cowichan - 2021072025 - jpg72 - 001 |
Date (y/m/d) |
1965/06/26 |
Place |
Lake Cowichan |
Provenance |
Locomotive was built in 1915 with a construction number of 1359 and 13'' x 16'' cylinders. Locomotive was purchased new by the M.D. Olds Lumber Company of Birch Michigan. The locomotive was then sold to the McNair Lumber Co. (1917-18) for use at their Queen Charlotte’s operation, and shipped to Vancouver by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Before it arrived WWI ended, and so did the demand for aircraft grade Sitka Spruce. The Canadian Robert Dollar Lumber Company (renamed the Smith Dollar Lumber Company) purchased No. 1 for their Deep Bay and Union Bay operations on Vancouver Island. Deep Bay ceased operation in 1922, and Union Bay in 1931. There is a possibility that the locomotive may have worked for the Alberta Lumber Co. who had operations in the False Creek area of Vancouver before being purchased by Abernethy & Lougheed. Sold to Abernethy & Lougheed Logging Co. (renumbered No. 44) for their extensive operations in the Fraser Valley (Mission, Ruskin) (1931-36). There’s also a possibility that the locomotive worked for the Scottish Palmer Lumber Company before acquired by Hillcrest in 1936. While it was owned by Hillcrest, it was renumbered No. 2 and worked in operation at Wheatley, 4 miles west of Duncan, where she switched the yard and worked the logging grades of Mount Prevost and Shatlam. By 1942 the timber supply was exhausted, and the operation was moved to Mesachie Lake. Using E&N trackage to Lake Cowichan, and the final 3 miles to Mesachie Lake over the Victoria Lumber & Manufacturing Company’s Robertson River Railway. To avoid confusion with other logging engines using VL&M trackage, No.2 was renumbered No.9. When railway logging at Mesachie Lake ended in 1949, No.9 became a backup to No.10, a newer 70-ton Climax that switched the mill and interchanged freight cars with the E&N terminus at Lake Cowichan, until the mill closed in 1968. Hillcrest Lumber’s Stone Family donated No.9 to the (then) Cowichan Valley Forest Museum in 1968, where it was on outdoor display until 1989. It was moved to a newly constructed locomotive shed and restored to operation by Museum staff and volunteers for RailFair 91 in Sacramento, California. In 1976, Cowichan Valley Forest Museum changed its name to thr BC Forest Museum. In 1999 the name was changed to The BC Forest Discovery Centre. |
Search Terms |
Hillcrest Lumber Company Climax Mesachie Lake Climax Manufacturing Company No. 9 Locomotive Duncan BCFDC Display Collection |
Collection |
BC Forest Museum Collection |
Subjects |
Locomotives |