Hillcrest #1 Shay: Morning Steam-Up & Departure

The recently rebuilt Hillcrest #1 Shay locomotive is pulled out of the shop building, fire is lit, and then the Shay is steamed-up in preparation for a day of pulling the visitor train. Author Robert Turner visits and chats with the crew and enjoys the Shay. This is on the narrow-gauge Cowichan Valley Railway at the BC Forest Discovery Centre, in North Cowichan on Vancouver Island. This is on August 31, 2024, plus one short scene from September 2, 2024. Photo Album link is Here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/1320134... ---------------------------------- Chapter Markers: 0:00 - Crew Arrives 1:18 - 26 Pulls Shay from Shop 3:48 - Preliminary Preparation 5:15 - Fire Lit 7:21 - Oil & Grease 10:56 - Sun Rays 12:42 - Blow Down 14:32 - Shay Bow 15:54 - Author Robert Turner 19:06 - Air Compressor 22:59 - Moving Out 23:50 - Underway 25:47 - Sanding the Flues ----------------------------------- The Hillcrest #1 Shay is a narrow-gauge oil burning steam locomotive in the Cowichan Valley of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. This Class-B Shay has a present-era weight of approximately 28 tons. She was construction number 3147 in 1920 at the factory in Lima Ohio, USA. After a pre-delivery factory conversion from narrow-gauge to standard-gauge, she arrived at Hillcrest Lumber on Vancouver Island in early 1921, and worked for Hillcrest Lumber in Sahtlam, and then for other companies in the Cowichan Valley and Crofton until 1963. Following conversion back to narrow-gauge and oil burning, she was donated to the newly formed Cowichan Valley Forest Museum which opened in 1965. This museum is now known as the BC Forest Discovery Centre, located on Drinkwater Road in North Cowichan, on Vancouver Island. The Hillcrest #1 Shay was one of the steam locomotives that pulled the visitor train in the early years of the forest museum, and she did this from the late 1960s until 1998. Following this, she went into storage, and the visitor train was then pulled mainly by the Vulcan #25 "Samson" steam locomotive. A rebuild project was started in 2016 and was completed in Spring 2024. The Hillcrest #1 Shay is now in-service, pulling the visitor train on various days during weekends in Summer 2024 and for special events. The locomotive's steam whistle on these days was a 3 chime Crosby. https://bcforestdiscoverycentre.com/p...