RAYO #4 on display near the junction of E Lauridson Blvd & S Chase St in Port Angeles, WA

The Willamette Iron and Steel Works in Portland, OR, built this geared locomotive as #701 in 1924 for the Long-Bell Lumber Co., in Ryderwood, WA. It was sold to Rayonier, Inc., in 1947. Renumbered #4 it worked at Hoko Camp, WA. In 1960, Rayonier donated the locomotive to the City of Port Angeles, WA. It is on display on a section of land bordered by E Lauridsen Blvd & S Chase St.

Production of Willamette Iron and Steel's first geared locomotive in 1922 resulted from local demand and continuing company diversification after WWI. It was expensive for west coast companies to ship their locomotives to the original eastern manufacturers for repair, and Willamette Iron and Steel was a logical, less costly alternative. As a result, by the 1920s, it had repaired locomotives built by other manufacturers like Lima, Climax and Heisler for several decades, and the experience showed that building its own locomotives was entirely possible. Expiry of the patent on the Shay locomotive a few years earlier allowed it to base its design on a type of locomotive already familiar to loggers.

#4 weighs 151,900 lbs light. It has three 12” x 15” vertically mounted cylinders but, unlike the Shay, all three cylinders face in the same direction forward of the cab. An oil burner operating at a boiler pressure of 200 psi, it delivered 31,968 lbs tractive effort. You can see another three truck Willamette and find out much more about the type on the Western Lumber #7 page of this website.