You are absolutely correct. Mr. Wall made the following statement in his letter to me and since you used the name I will confirm:

"Eventually, I sold it to Lindsay Ashby, the man who had (for quite awhile) the franchise to operate the Georgetown Loop RR"

Again, thanks!

JAyC: you stated in an earlier post that you have this item listed on E-Bay as coming from Westside Lumber Co. Shay #8. My familiarity with Westside Lumber No. 8 is what got my attention when I read your post.

Since Lindsay Ashby bought the 8 from Mr. Wall to operate it in Colorado, I doubt he bought it without a headlight, and, in fact, the 8 operated until about 1987 on the Loop so it clearly had one then. I guess it's possible Mr. Wall substituted another headlight on the engine when he sold it to Lindsay, but, that wouldn't seem likely, either.

My point is, we occasionally see items (most often headlights, bells and whistles) for sale and being attributed as having come from a certain railroad or off of a particular engine when that is either not true or cannot be proven. It has to do with historical accuracy and an accurate representation of what is being offered for sale. If Mr. Wall can clear this up and explain how he has No. 8's headlight when the engine was sold to Mr. Ashby in 1978, then all is well.

Good luck. Please keep coming back to RYPN as there are a lot of people who frequent here with a large fund of knowledge and willingness to share it.

Sincerely,

Ted Krumreich

I just ended the listing. According to Mr. Wall, who is both the original owner of the West Side #8 Shay,(when it was taken out of service) and also the owner of a steam locomotive from the Pickering Lumber Company R.R, (both purchased at the same time from Fibreboard),....he's not absolutely certain which of the engines this headlight came from.

I do thank you for keeping me straight. I am not sure what this actually means regarding the value of the headlight, West Side vs. Pickering, but I have to agree that accuracy is paramount when selling collectibles. I will clarify the provenance of the headlight when I get better information.

Again and again, thank you!

JAY C,
the museum that would be very interested in this lamp is the West Side Preservation Society at Tuolumne, California.

The owner may need a tax write off; which is always available from museums.

Ted Miles, San Francisco, CA

I think this may be the headlight I’m trying (for my wife) to sell. She has asked me to do such.