Description: Information as provided on plaque:
Comox Logging & Railway Company
Locomotove #12
Locomotive #12 is a Shay and was built by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio in 1927. It is a standard 50 ton steel framed Shay with 11x12 inch cylinders and 32 inch wheels. The cost at the time was $19,285 and it weighed 119,700 pounds.
The locomotive was built for Merril & Ring Lumber Company for their operation at Squamish. At the time it was the #2 and operated at Cat & Brohm Lakes. Comos Logging & railway Co. bought the Shay and it began working near Courtnay. In 1945, now numbered 12, the Shay began work at Second Lake and continued there until the mid 50s. It was then used in and around Ladysmith as a bull cook engine. In 1959 it was withdrawn from service and in 1962 the company donated Shay #12 to the Town of Ladysmith. It sat at their arboretum until 1987 when the Town donated it to the Ladysmith Railway Historical Society.
The shay's unique design featured vertical cylinders which drove a slip joint and universal joint equipped line shaft which ran along side of the locomotive and connected both axles of 15 mph. To balance the weight of the cylinders and line shaft, Shay boilers were offset to the left, giving the locomotive a lopsided appearance when viewed from the front.
