File:Ely-Thomas Lumber Company - 2 steam locomotive (painted as Leetonia Railway - 1) (Shay 65-3 engine) 4 (27737317615).jpg

This is a Shay steam engine, which is one of three types of geared locomotives (Shay, Climax, and Heisler). The unit was built in December 1906 by Lima Locomotive Works. It is a class 65-3 engine - it weighs 65 tons and has 3 trucks. The unit actually weighs 68.5 tons. It was retired from service in the 1960s. It is on display the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in the town of Strasburg.

From museum signage: "Ephraim Shay, a Michigan lumberman, faced a problem common to 19th century logging operators: how to move the timber from forest to mill as cheaply as possible in any kind of weather. Shay set to work developing a new type of locomotive that could operate a heavy train over light rails, steep grades, and sharp curves, and still be relatively inexpensive to build and maintain. In 1880, satisfied he had found the solution, he took his design to the Lima Locomotive Works.

From humble beginnings, the Shay locomotives grew and evolved in size and complexity. All shared several common characteristics, including a boiler placed off-center on the frame to allow room for a set of vertical pistons, which connect to independent swiveling trucks by a drive shaft and gears. This drive train is the secret to the Shay's success, providing great power and flexibility. Setting all of the locomotive's moving parts on one side made maintenance easier, but also made an operating Shay a true sight to behold. With pistons and drive shafts spinning frantically, the meshing of gears and pounding exhaust made the engine sound as if it were traveling a mile a minute, despite the fact that it was actually crawling at a snail's pace. Although Shays were built from two to four trucks and weighing 6 to 167 tons, the most common two arrangements were the 42 ton, two-ruck and 65 to 70 ton, three-truck models. In total, Lima built 2,720 Shays from 1880 to 1946.

Designated a class 65-3, meaning it weighs 65 tons and has three powered trucks, the museum's Shay is one of the most common versions of this distinctive locomotive produced by Lima. The engine has many of the added features that helped make Shays the most prolific of the three types of geared engines, including a firebox that could burn wood or coal, a siphon pump to draw water from mountain streams and adjustable height couplers (log cars ride lower to the ground when loaded).

Number 1 led a long and well-traveled career before coming to the railroad museum. Lima built the engine in 1906 for the Enterprise Lumber Company of Sims, Louisiana. From there, it traveled to West Virginia, working on the Cherry River Boom and Lumber Company in Richwood, the Beech Mountain Railroad and Cook-Natwick Company in Alexander, and finally the Ely-Thomas Lumber Company in Fenwick. Ely-Thomas retired the locomotive in 1964, after nearly 50 years of service in the forests.