#6 was the only steam locomotive to have worked on the Skagit River Railway.
The Skagit River is the second largest river in Washington State. It rises in British Columbia, Canada, and flows south into the State through the North Cascades National Park, then west through the Skagit River Valley into Puget Sound.
The Skagit River Railway was organised by Seattle City Light, the public utility providing electrical power to Seattle, to move men and materials from a connection with the Great Northern at Rockport, WA, to the Gorge powerhouse and the dam at Newhalem further east on the river. It operated from 1919 to 1954.
#6 is an oil burning Prairie (2-6-2) type locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1928.
It has an engine wheelbase of 26’ 9” and driver wheelbase of 9’ 4” weighing 134,000 lbs, 105,000 lbs on its 44” drivers. It is equipped with Walschaert valve gear and has 18" x 24" cylinders. With a 28.15 sq ft grate, 114 sq ft firebox and 378 sq ft superheating, total heating surface was 2,084 sq ft. Operating at a boiler pressure of 170 psi, it delivered 11,583 lbs tractive effort. The tender weighs 75,000 lbs loaded, with 1,500 gallons of oil and 3,500 gallons of water.
The railroad was not a common carrier but many loads of logs and lumber from local forests and mills were transported for transshipment at the interchange with the Great Northern at Rockport.
After the railroad was abandoned in 1954, #6 was retired and went on display in the Seattle City Light Park on State Hwy 20 at Newhalem, WA.
