Central Park in Sutherlin, Ore., displays one of 59 surviving steam locomotives in Oregon. It has a wheel arrangement called a “prairie” with two leading wheels, six coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels.
Built by Alco/Cooke in 1921 for the City of San Francisco as the Hetch Hetchy Railroad locomotive
No. 5, its name changed to No. 100 when Weyerhaeuser purchased it in 1937 for its Vail, Wash., operation, and sent it south to Sutherlin in 1948.
The logging line’s 30 to 50 cars a day stretched east from town for about 19 miles to support the Springfield, Ore., mill being built in 1947. Camps were established to house workers.
The line thrived until its closure in 1961 when Weyerhaeuser started harvesting its holdings northeast of Springfield. A few small camp cabins remain today.
Though No. 100 was not the only engine to work the Sutherlin line, it drew attention when the company donated it to the city in 1962. A shelter protected it from the elements. The town centennial in June 2011 chose a likeness of the locomotive as its logotype.
Sources:Bratton, Karen. Personal interview; "Weyerhaeuser, Southern, OR Division." Rob Jacox's Western Rails.. Web. 26 July 2014 "Surviving Steam Locomotives of Oregon." Mallets in the Tall Timber. 10 June 2003. Web. 26 July 2014
