The Engine House shelters one of the museum's most
interesting exhibits, a 70-ton Shay locomotive that was actually used in logging
operations.
Ephraim Shay, a Michigan sawmill operator, is generally
credited with the invention of the first geared locomotive in America. Shay
determined that a small locomotive with power conveyed to the trucks rather than
the drivers would achieve a slow but powerful engine, capable of climbing steep
grades and traversing rails laid over rough, uneven terrain. Shay's invention
was built by using a flat car placed on ordinary trucks. A small portable
upright boiler with vertical engine was fastened to the center of the car. Then,
using a flexible shaft, bevel gears and pinion wheels, the power was connected
to the trucks, thus, in the 1880's the first Shay was born. Lima Machine Works
of Lima, Ohio began producing Shay's invention. The logging railroad was
immediately successful, since it provided economical transportation of logs and
lumber to distant mills and markets and opened up previously inaccessible stands
of timber. The Shay-geared locomotive became the locomotive most predominately
used in Pennsylvania logging, and over 2,000 Shays saw service within the United
States and in foreign countries.