USA: Willamette 3-truck at Mt Rainier

[John Ashworth]

This Willamette 3-truck at Mt Rainier Scenic Railroad, according to Wikipedia, "closely resembles a Shay locomotive" and is "the only operational Willamette in the world". And here is the hogger.

[Tom Macrery]

Interesting! Willamette, Shay, and geared locomotive are all new to me. Did any of them come to (South) Africa?

[John Ashworth]

I'm sure there's an expert out there somewhere who will prove me wrong, but as far as I know Shays, and geared locomotives in general, weren't common outside north America. I too had never heard of a Willamette, but I liked the picture.

[Ian Roberts]

The first Willamette was built in 1922 when the Shay patents had expired.

Looks like Shay & Lima were not as good as Beyer Peacock in keeping detail modifications patented and thus effectivly extending the original patents.