The light was not in my favour for this shot so I've had to do a LOT of HDR-ish fiddling.

This is also the smallest steam tractor I've ever seen, I am NOT standing on anything to get this shot.

You can see where the centrifugal governor and balanced steam valve go down right next to the valve chest. The plumbing to my eyes seems peculiar, however my knowledge of steam tractors is pretty nil and this might not be as unusual as it seems.

The boiler was erected by Babcock Wilson Company, it was wood burning and carried 180 lbs. steam. Built as a tractor by what would be Case Co. it was first operated by a mining operation at Placerville. In the 1890's it was bought by N. A. and .J. K. McKay and DRIVEN* to Angels Camp. At McKay's saw mill on Love Creek the mill's blacksmith shop converted it to a logging locomotive by putting flanges on the wheels. Jenny was retired in 1904 to a forest grove where her smoke stack gained some bullet holes.

*Google says this is 60 miles

Rusting: http://snlm.files.wordpress.com/200.....oods-n1023.jpg



More in Depth history;

One of the McKays’ men drove it all the way back from Placerville. The fiery wood-burning monster, enveloped in clouds of steam emanating from her boiler, hissed and spit as she rumbled along. She created quite a stir along the way, thundering though Murphys in the dead of night, arousing inhabitants and animals alike. Dogs roared, chickens squawked, donkeys brayed, horses and cows fled in terror. The residents ran pell-mell into the streets in their nightgowns, sure that the end of the world had come. It was quite some time before the commotion subsided and everyone went back to bed.

The ox-team drivers, angered by the threat that the “infernal machine” posed to their livelihood, contemptuously dubbed her “Jenny” generally prefacing the name with a most descriptive, but unprintable, adjective.

In an effort to out-log “Jenny”, a logger named Howard Dickey became careless in his haste to unload his logs. One of them broke loose and hit him in the back of the head, killing him instantly. The rest of the logs rolled over his body. When the McKays heard the tragic news, they broke down and cried. Their workers were considered members of the family.