105 Years Ago Today in Mill Valley
by Fred Runner, Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway Historian
One Hundred Five years ago today, December 16, 1911, beneath some oak trees in Mill Valley, Howard Folker snapped a photo of his newly finished model of a Shay steam engine. Within two weeks it would be on display in the railroad’s Market Street ticket office window and drawing crowds.
In an era before model kits, this was a rare thing. But it also moved. The whole drive train, all the gearing along the side of the engine, moved up and down or spun, all day long, powered by electricity. Near “rocket science” by the standards of 1911.
It had taken years to create. Howard Folker measured the Tamalpais railway’s full-sized Shay engines and created identical parts at 1/10th scale in identical metals, molding and machining them with such precision that they still work today, 105 years later.
Folker was a technically gifted young man who started work on the railroad in 1906, shortly before the great earthquake as a conductor. He became the youngest engineer on the railroad. And by 1911, he had also mastered the art of machining, listed in a local professional directory as the scenic railway’s machinist.
Creating the model took years. Folker worked during slow periods for the railroad in the shops crafting dozens of unique parts. The model is not a specific Tamalpais engine but it is most similar to engines 5 and 7.
In 1930, the Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway was scrapped. Scrapper Hyman-Michaels bought all the assets of the railroad. The model was one. Hyman-Michaels took it back to their office in Chicago where it has been until this year. Last Friday, December 9, the model returned to Mill Valley after 86 years and went on display in the Mill Valley Library’s History Room. An overflow crowed greeted it, including a 100-year old woman, Lenore Russell, who had ridden the railroad as a girl, and Erdie Folker, the daughter-in-law of model builder Howard Folker, Sr.
Master Modeler Phil Gazzano has done extensive yet sensitive restoration work, restoring things like the missing steam whistle, custom machining an identical replacement from brass stock and recreating all the linkage.
It’s on display at the Mill Valley library through May, 2017.
Originally published at https://annetkent.kontribune.com.
