Digital Art Photo – September 16th, 2023 – J. Neils Lumber Company Shay #5 sits at the depot at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois at night, waiting to make another night run, during the museum’s 70th Anniversary Celebration.
According to their website, J. Neils Lumber Company 5 is the museum’s only geared locomotive and was built in 1929 by the Lima Locomotive Works. It is designed with three cylinders mounted vertically on the engineer’s side that powers a drive shaft running the length of the engine alongside the wheels. This allows all wheels to be powered using bevel gears. Shays were extremely slow but were powerful and could negotiate uneven track and sharp curves, making them popular with logging and mining companies.