Shay #4 Locomotive mural at The Heritage Museum is completed
by The Heritage Museum
October 23, 2025
Libby Charter School students have completed the spectacular, 551 square foot, two-story-high color mural of the J. Neils Lumber Company’s 1906 Shay Locomotive. The mural took 12 gallons of colored paint and approximately 1,000 working hours to create. The students have been painting the mural all summer since school closed in June, and weekends and after school since school reopened in August.
The mural is visible from US Hwy 2 and the Pond Road on the Hwy 2 side of the original Shay Shed, which contains the Shay Locomotive parts that are currently under restoration.
The artists are: Charter School students Peyton Zillman, Grace Webber, Olive Holly, Destini Hostetter, Justin Sadewasser; artists Michelle Thiessen and Destini Hostetter; and Museum volunteer Sherry Turner, all under the direction of Charter School Art Instructor Heather Robertson. The mural is based on the 1988 painting by the late Clayton Peterson of Libby (courtesy of Clayton’s son Ken Peterson), showing the Shay #4 Locomotive nicknamed "Ole Four Spot."
Please watch the Museum’s nine-minute video history of the Shay #4 by Libby’s Grady Knight at: youtube.com, search for "Libby Montana Heritage Museum," and scroll down to "Ole Four Spot." Your support for the Shay #4 restoration project is greatly appreciated.
This mural project’s success is thanks to donations and assistance from the following: First Class Painting-Matt Fairchild, Big Sky Lumber Supply-David Brooks, Busy Bee Construction-Buzz Hostetter, Lonny Fosgate-Aerial Man Lift, Rotary International-Libby, Covered Up Tattooing-Anthony Webber, and Heritage Museum member-Sherry Turner.
In 2026, the Shay #4 Locomotive will turn 120 years old. The Museum plans to celebrate Shay #4’s 120th Birthday during the Opening Day Celebration in May or June 2026. The Museum is continuing to apply for grants to help fund the final restoration of the Shay #4 Locomotive to working order with a 1-mile track for it to operate on.
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