A mi się dzisiaj trafił taki
Even though photos of the fireman's side of Shay locomotives are somewhat rare, this one is quite rare for a number of reasons.
First, the fact that a Shay would be on the roster of the Union Pacific makes this huge geared engine stand out in it's own right. But look closer and you will see the real oddity here. Yes, that is in fact a power reverser mounted on the frame just ahead of the cab of this beast.
You may ask, how and why did the UP go to such an effort to install this power reverser on the engine. Well the "why" is because that was the law as of the date of this photo in 1948, According to the copy of the Locomotive Inspection Law dated 1947, all steam locomotives constructed after September 1, 1937 were required to have a power reverse gear. On road locomotives built prior to Sept. 1, 1937 with more than 150,000 lbs on the drivers or switching locomotives with more than 130,000 lbs on the drivers shall have a power reverse applied during class 1 or class 2 repairs. The install shall be applied by Sept 1, 1942.
This big Shay was built by Lima in 1907 for use on the Tintic Branch in Utah. She weighed 135,500 pounds empty. Because of her weight, she fell under the power reverse requirement.
As to the "how" did they make the power reverse work, that is something else of interest. As we know, the engine and valves are all on the engineer's side of Shays. With the power reverser mounted on the fireman's side this posed a problem. The controls for the engineer had to have a rod connecting them to the reverser unit by passing in front of the boiler backhead in the cab and out the fireman's side. The reverser lever to the valve links had to be connected to a similar rod that passed back under the cab and frame to the engine unit on the engineer's side. Not an easy application!
This big engine was later sold to the Oregon-American Lumber Co. at Vernonia, Oregon. She kept her power reverser there until she was finally cut up in the 1950's. The loggers that ran her there must have loved the luxury of the power reverser!
