Smokey Our Little Engine That Can!
Not Smokey the Bear, but Laws Museum’s Smokey: The Little Engine that does it all. For those who aren’t familiar with our little workhorse, Smokey’s first career was at the Union Carbide’s Pine Creek Tungsten Mine. Union Carbide operated this local mine for over half a Century, during which time 186 million cc of rock was removed from the mountain above Pine Creek. Tungsten is essential to military weaponry, and the Pine Creek Mine played a part in both World Wars. The mine’s inner workings included thirty-eight miles of tunnels, and four miles of railroad track. Smokey, our sturdy little Plymouth diesel, was built for underground supply transport, and is one of the original diesels from the mine.
When the Pine Creek tungsten mining operation shut down in 1990 Smokey came to live at Laws. Anyone who has chartered the Laws Museum’s “Birthday Express” has ridden in the mine’s former ore cart/First Aid car, pulled along the track by Smokey. In between birthday parties, Smokey works for the train crew, hauling tools, equipment, paint, and whatever else is needed, to worksites along our 3,000 ft track. In August 2023, our Baldwin steam locomotive #9 was brought into the Engine House for restoration, and it’s Smokey who pulls and pushes her in from and out to the track as needed for our restoration work parties.
Smokey has served our mission well, providing joy and promoting awareness of Inyo County mining and railroad history, as well as providing needed services for the train crew’s repair and restoration activities. The Laws Museum train crew is fortunate to have a couple of volunteers with the knowledge, skill and patience to keep our tough little vintage diesel on track. Smokey may be retired from the mining industry, but her “retirement” is just as active as the “retirement” of our train and track maintenance and restoration volunteers.
Smokey has served our mission well, providing joy and promoting awareness of Inyo County mining and railroad history, as well as providing needed services for the train crew’s repair and restoration activities. The Laws Museum train crew is fortunate to have a couple of volunteers with the knowledge, skill and patience to keep our tough little vintage diesel on track. Smokey may be retired from the mining industry, but her “retirement” is just as active as the “retirement” of our train and track maintenance and restoration volunteers.
