Steam Donkeys | Hobo Laments

I am sure that this was done on the railroads along the Mendocino Coast. Alas, I have yet to come across a picture of the loading taking place.

Marc Reusser’s “Steam in the Woods” Facebook page had a photo which showed me how it was done:

Loading a Steam Donkey onto a railroad flat car

Marc was kind enough to add explanatory text to the photo:

“Standard Lumber Company, loading a donkey onto one of their logging flats.Note that the donkey engine is under steam and has been rigged and blocked, in such a manner, so as to be able to pull itself onto the car. Visible beyond the donkey, is a skidway, and above to the left, a horse. Horses were often used for line outhaul, carrying water, yarding logs, and various other tasks.”

Thinks, “Can we model this?”

If you leave our layout you pass the Skunk Depot and you’ll then see the Deli/Mall/Museum. In the north corridor of the Deli building you’ll find a locomotive and two steam donkeys. One of these is of the oldest type – a steam donkey with a single capstan like drum. I apologise for the photo quality but the Mall is’nt a well lighted place and the steam donkey is crammed in the space where it lives.

Capstan type steam donkey in the Deli Mall in Fort Bragg

The steam donkey was patented by John Dolbeer in 1883, Here’s the drawing that accompanied the patent application:

J. Dolbeer’s patent application for a steam donkey

The design is ingenios in that it married existing technology of the time on steam schooners with an upright boiler powering a single propeller and a powered capstan. The one in the Deli was owned by Union Lumber Company (ULC) here in Fort Bragg.

As the club’s historian I am constantly “fishing” for new historic info. I mostly catch minnows – single “bits” of historic info. This blog is about when I landed a school of whales. I was looking at the pics collected in Lynn Catlett’s “You know if you’re from Mendocino if” Facebook blog. Totally accidentally I clicked on a photo and I landed on a Dutch site, “De Puffende Schoorsteen,” which translated means, “The Puffing Chimney.” The site is devoted to modelers who build exquisite working models from old photos. Hence this gallery of pics of steam donkeys based on the original Dolbeer patent. Click on any photo in this blog to see it full size.