Caption: Westward from Ladysmith, Crown Zellerbach’s log-haul railway ascended to Nanaimo Lakes, so what was rain down at Ladysmith often fell as snow farther up. That was the case on Wednesday 1976-02-25 as ALCo RS-3 4097 (ex D&H 4117) hauled empty log flats across a timber trestle over Boulder Creek at mileage 12.2 enroute a reload up at Nanaimo Lakes.

An unusual operating arrangement is shown in this photo. Crown Zellerbach and other tidewater-to-inland logging railways almost always ran their steam locomotives with the smoke box oriented upgrade for best firebox crownsheet coverage, and that front-to-the-woods plan was carried through into the diesel era. However, to counter increased wheel wear on one side of 4097, it was run short-nose-upgrade for several months, and I was fortunate to catch several examples of that.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.