McCloud Railway 25

McCloud Railway 25 is a 2-6-2 "Prairie" type steam locomotive, built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1925.^[1] Shortly after retirement, on July 3, 1955, the No. 25 ceremoniously opened the Burney Branch by bursting through a paper banner with a special excursion train.^[1] In 1962, No. 25 was restored for excursion service and served in that capacity until passenger service was once again terminated in 1975.^[1] It has since been used in the films Bound for Glory and Stand By Me. It is presently in Oregon, providing excursion service on the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad.^[1]

No. 25 was one of four Prairies from ALCO, numbered 22–25, which were purchased for a total cost of $90,000. The No. 25 was the largest and last steam locomotive purchased by the McCloud River Railroad. At the time, the McCloud was a logging railway and the No. 25 was used in this function until early summer 1955, when it was replaced by GE 70-ton switcher No. 1.^[1]

It wasn't long, however, before the locomotive was brought out again on July 3, 1955 to open the Burney Branch by breaking a paper banner with a special excursion train. After this, however, the locomotive was truly retired, but it remained on the property—the only steam locomotive to do so.^[2]

In the following years, there were many requests for the No. 25 to be restored to operating condition for excursion service, which work officially began in the spring of 1962.^[3][1] The locomotive return to service on June 9, 1962 were it lead a long excursion train from McCloud to its former haunts at Pondosa and return.^[3][1] A contractor called the Mt. Shasta Alpine Scenic Railway ran regular excursions in the summer of 1964, and another contractor called the Shasta Huffen-Puff ran the service between 1967 and 1971, when equipment prices, insurance prices, and falling interest.^[1]

This era of excursions ended in 1975, when the locomotive travelled to the Tidewater Southern Railway to be used in Bound for Glory.^[1]

The McCloud River Railroad came under new ownership in 1977, and the new owners ordered President Bill Herndon to scrap the No. 25, but he resisted, Herndon was ordered to sell or scrap the No. 25 as soon as possible.^[1] Herndon however, balked at the order, and negotiated back and forth with Itel, he eventually received permission to put the locomotive on public static display at McCloud River Railroad.^[1] However, before these plans could be brought to fruition, the Great Western Railroad Museum approached the railroad with a proposal to lease and operate the No. 25.^[1]

Beginning in late spring of 1982, the No. 25 was put on long-term lease to the Great Western Railroad Museum, which it began its third excursion career and ran it on the McCloud in several annual excursions.^[1] This third career also ended with a performance in a movie Stand by Me, filmed in 1986.^[1] Right after this, the Great Western Railroad Museum sued the McCloud River Railroad for Breach of Contract, and in the settlement, obtained possession of the locomotive. They did not do anything with it, however, keeping it in storage on the McCloud property.^[1]

The renewed McCloud Railway re-obtained the No. 25 in January 1996 and began restoration efforts.^[1] The locomotive returned to service under steam again on Labor Day weekend in 1997.^[1] No. 25 would begin its third excursion career and again returned to occasional excursion service for the railroad, but in February 2001, McCloud Railway 18 reentered service, and after a doubleheader excursion, the No. 18 replaced the No. 25.^[4] The No. 25 was put into stored again, and it was returned to service once again between the summer of 2007 and the summer of 2008.^[1] It made two excursions for railfan groups on November 1 and 2, but because most of the McCloud Railway is being abandoned, the locomotive ran on its homerails for the last time, and was put up for sale.^[5]

In late March, 2011, No. 25 was moved from McCloud, California to Tillamook, Oregon after it was purchased by the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad.^[1] The locomotive is stored in the World War II-era blimp hangar and was steamed up on May 20 with passenger excursions planned to begin in the summer. It was moved to the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad shop in Garibaldi, Oregon in July 2011 and is still in service as of 2024.^[1][6]

• Columbia River Belt Line 7
• McCloud Railway 18
• McCloud Railway 19
• Polson Logging Co. 2
• Sierra Railway 28

Media related to McCloud River Railroad 25 at Wikimedia Commons