Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

I've never seen or heard of this before.
Comments about the image are interesting.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1944517022465046&set=gm.1714535521976936&type=3&theater

jeffstone123

Neat

Detroit Roman

Never knew anything like that existed! Thanks for sharing.

Here is 'steam donkey' sled that resides on my large scale (G scale) indoor railroad.

(Download)

Swamp-Cork Loc: Lanexa, Virginia

A first for me, Pat---thanks!

Leicaflex Loc: Cymru

Fascinating, thank you for the link.

htbrown Loc: San Francisco Bay Area

Logging railroads were almost always temporary affairs. They'd build the track to follow the men as they logged their way through the forest. When the trees ran out, they'd rip up the tracks and put them elsewhere.

Wooden rails, while not common, were not unknown. One thing the loggers had aplenty was wood, and many logging outfits operated on a shoestring. Some forms of wooden rail were just saplings stripped of the bark. The wheels on the train would have half-round concavities to straddle the sapling.

This picture appears more ad-hoc than most. It uses sawn rails but the 'engine,' such as it is, looks to be a couple of steam donkeys on a cobbled-together platform.

Steam donkeys, for those not familiar with the term, were a boiler, steam engine, and windlass, usually mounted on a wooden frame that acted like a sledge. They were used for hauling logs from one spot to another, but could also drag themselves on their sledge by affixing their cable to an immovable object.

JBruce Loc: Northern MN

Further comment, these steamers were typically used in California, Oregon and Washington logging in the very early years after opening up the Pacific Northwest. Iron was very hard to come by then as it all had to be shipped around "the horn" of South America, and before first intercontinental RR. Most of this type of heavy equipment, including the castings for the metal parts were fabricated in foundries in San Francisco or Portland. These locomotives typically had double flanged wheels to stay on the 'rails', also had cast-in crosswise 'cogs' to get traction when the rails were wet. Those were some tough hombres that worked the woods in those days..hard workers and short lives.

sleepy51 Loc: Makoshika Park--Montana

Thanks for the Link Jay Pat, 40 years on the railroad and I've never heard of Pole Railroad.....Very Interesting. If you want to see a " steam donkey " work---Watch Walt Disneys, " Snowball Express ", but you better have the kids watch it with you, one of my old time favorites..

Sirius_one Loc: S.F. Bay Area

A very interesting post.

Rob48 Loc: Portland, ME

Fascinating, Pat; thank you.