Historic Tuolumne Locomotive Shay #12 Returning To Yosemite Area

Historic Shay #12 coming home to Yosemite area of California—Photo by Trevor Chung

Yosemite, CA – A historic locomotive from the former West Side Lumber Co. in Tuolumne that served the Sierra Nevada is returning to the Yosemite area and will hit the tracks again for all to enjoy.

Shay #12 was built in April 1926 for the Swayne Lumber Company and later moved to the West Side Lumber Company. Shay, a superheated three-truck vehicle, weighing 60 tons. It served in Tuolumne from 1940 to 1961 and then the “West Side & Cherry Valley” from 1968 until 1981, when the company closed. The engine has since spent time in Colorado. The nearly century-old Shay #12 has been housed at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, west of Denver. On Tuesday, January 20, 2026, the engine successfully passed a hydrostatic boiler test, clearing the way for the locomotive’s return to service.

The locomotive will be heading to the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad in Fish Camp, outside of the south entrance to Yosemite National Park, which offers scenic train rides through the Sierra National Forest. Once on site, the engine will undergo a full mechanical and cosmetic restoration aimed at returning her to active service on the historic line. It will then join Shay #10 and #15, already rolling along the rails.

Railroad park officials relay that a special locomotive house is being constructed for Shay #12, and the restoration effort will begin in the spring. The goal is to have the engine operational later this season, just in time to help celebrate her 100th birthday, hopefully with the reopening of the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad on March 28th.