Virginia & Truckee 2-4-0 #21 J.W. Bowker

Photo by Cliff West

Virginia & Truckee 2-4-0 locomotive #21, the J.W. Bowker, was built by Baldwin in 1875. Named for V&T master mechanic John William Bowker, it was built with a Knowles steam water pump for firefighting and was used as the switcher in Virginia City. It was renamed Mexico in 1876. It was sold in 1896 to the Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Company in Hobart Mills, California. It was donated to the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society in June 1937. It was used by Cecil B. DeMille in the 1939 film Union Pacific. Its last run was in June1953 in San Francisco. It has been displayed at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California, since 1976. It is the only surviving Baldwin 2-4-0 in the United States.