1911 Shay Locomotive Model now on display at the Civic Center Library (2016)
by Laurie Thompson
Last week, the exquisite Shay locomotive model created by Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway workers at their shops in Mill Valley in 1911, made its first public appearance in Marin County in 86 years.
It’s now on display in the Civic Center Library and will be the subject of a talk by Fred Runner next Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at noon, under the dome of the Library.
A December 30, 1911 article in the Sausalito News describes the model when it first went on display in the Railroad’s San Francisco ticket office:
In one of the Market Street windows of the Southern Pacific ticket offices, in the Palace Hotel building, is a working model of the Shay locomotives used on the Mill Valley and Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railroad. Large numbers of people are attracted to it and crowd around the window. The piston rods keep moving and give the onlookers an idea of what their reliable mountain-climbing locomotives look like. In front of it is a card stating that the model was constructed in the Mill Valley shops of the railroad by their employees, the speed being eight miles an hour, maximum grade of seven per cent, and other brief details…..
Originally published at https://annetkent.kontribune.com.
