In the late 1980s I acquired a pristine brass Westside Model Company HOn3 four-truck Shay. The model is unpainted but according to the box it's a "Hassinger Lumber Company" locomotive. I'm familiar with a number of west coast logging companies and their railroads, both standard and narrow gauge, but I have never encountered the name Hassinger Lumber. Nor in all my reading about Shay locomotives have I ever seen reference to a four-truck locomotive in three-foot gauge. Standard gauge, yes, but not narrow gauge.
Realizing that what I don't know about logging railroads and Shay locomotives far outweighs what I do know, I thought I'd pose these questions to the newsgroup in the hopes someone might know the answers. Was there an actual Hassinger Lumber Company and did they operate a three-foot gauge, four-truck Shay? Or did Westside Models simplpy create a narrow gauge version of what in reality was a standard gauge locomotive? Or-- even though the model is beautifully done-- is this a "fantasy" model, a model of a locomotive that could have existed but didn't? Thanks.
C. Marin Faure Seattle, Washington
(to reply remove Boeing jet from address) ______________ C. Marin Faure GB36-403 "La Perouse" Bellingham, Washington