Today, we are at the location where the Mutual Lumber Company’s Number 2 locomotive fell twenty feet off a trestle on October 10, 1935 severely injuring four crew members. Seven other crew members sustained minor injuries. All eleven crew members jumped before the Number 2 landed on its side. Old Number 2 is long gone and only bits and pieces remain. The Climax was scrapped in 1959 by the Barrett family along with some friends from Vail and Rainier. The appropriate permissions and permits were obtained in advance. The wreck site is located within Weyerhaeuser’s Vail operation.
In 1959, the truck road system in the woods had not been connected and the old track bed was washed out in several places. While looking for the locomotive, Jim Barrett, who was a conductor on the Vail logging line, came face to face with a big bear which was walking toward him on the old railroad grade. Mr. Barrett climbed a small hill to let the bear walk by and that is when the wreck was located. The weather at the time was rainy and windy and unbearable for both man and beast.
A few days later, we all came to examine the wrecked Climax locomotive and make plans to scrap the locomotive. The Climax locomotive is a type of geared steam locomotive and was manufactured by the Climax Locomotive Works located in Corry, Pennsylvania. The locomotive had been stripped for parts by the Mutual Lumber Company for their remaining fleet of Climax locomotives and the locomotive was just a shell when we found it in 1959.
While examining the site, my older brother Chuck found a deer bone in the mud and told me this was the leg bone of the engineer. Since I was 7 years old, I believed him, and took off running. I made it about half a mile down the road before they caught up with me.
*supplemental content provided by: South Thurston County Historical Society, Tenino, WA
Thurston County Independent newspaper article
Tenino, Thurston County, Washington
Friday, October 11, 1935
Loggers Leap From Train as Trestle Slips
Four Injured in 20 Foot Leap into Gully as Mutual Train Goes Thru Bridge
Eleven men saved their lives by leaping from the logging train on the Mutual logging road at 8:38 Thursday morning (October 10, 1935) when it plunged thru a trestle ten miles east of Bucoda, (Washington). Four men suffered more or less severe injuries. Charles Short, the engineer, sustained a broken leg and Louis Hawkins had a bad scalp injury. Both were taken to St. Peters Hospital (Olympia) for treatment. A.G. Smith, the brakemen, had a bruised leg and Robert Lee a sprained ankle. They are confined to their homes in Bucoda.
As Engine No. 2 started across the bridge, a stringer gave way, and the train started to settle about four feet toward the gully. The eleven men on the train immediately jumped, the injuries resulting from the act. The train plunged on, landing on its side, 15 feet below. The engine is badly wrecked and officials from the lumber company are considering the likelihood of repairing it.
The speeder went after the injured men and brought them to Mutual Camp where Dr. Campbell met them with an ambulance. Rescue of the injured men required about an hour due to difficulty in getting word to headquarters.
