Weekend Steam: Brenda Stant, Engineers and Engines Magazine Hits A Home Run!

Sixty years ago Stan Mathews of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa went to California and brought back the Number 9 Shay Locomotive from West Side Lumber Company. The current issue of Engineers and Engines has an in depth article about Number 9, and if you don't already subscribe, you need to call Brenda and start your subscription. The article is packed with photos and history that most people never learn. Number 9 has been hauling passengers on the Midwest Central and the Georgetown Loop for more years than it pulled logs out of the California forests.   

I was just 15 years old when the Shay arrived at Old Threshers and the Midwest Central. I was so thrilled that I paid $10 for a share in the railroad and got a lifetime pass, which I still have, just in case I get back to Old Threshers again. I even rode around the grounds once in the cab with Stan Mathews at the throttle. 

Here's your info to subscribe to Brenda's wonderful magazine:

While you are on the phone with Brenda, be sure to purchase the new steam engine calendar for 2027!

Engineers and Engines is my primary source for keeping up with the shows that are around us. Next weekend is American Threshermen at Pinckneyville, and Pontiac and Sycamore shows happen soon. Old Threshers at Mt. Pleasant is September 3-7. Boonville, Indiana will be coming up October 10. 

Zeke and me with Number 9 in 1984.