Nevada Short Line 2-6-0 #1

Photo by Cliff West

The Nevada Short Line was a short-lived 36-inch gauge railroad built to reach silver mines in Nevada. Established in 1913 and incorporated in 1914, the 12.5-mile railroad featured a switchback and a 6% grade. Nevada Short Line #1 was one of the line’s two locomotives. It is a 2-6-0 Mogul originally built by Baldwin in 1879 as Utah & Northern Railway Company #13. It passed through several owners before it was purchased by the Nevada Short Line in August 1913 and became their #1.The railroad was damaged by flooding in June 1918 and was abandoned on December 31, 1920. The locomotive was sold to a scrap dealer who resold it to the Nevada Central Railroad of Battle Mountain, Nevada, where it became #6. Like the former North Pacific Coast #12, Sonoma, it was acquired by Nevada Central’s general manager J. M. Hiskey and was used at the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco, where it last ran in October 1940. In 1941 it was donated to the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, and was donated to the state of California in 1969. It is new displayed at the California State Railroad Museum’s Railroad History Museum in Sacramento, California.

Virginia & Truckee 2-6-0 #13 Empire

Photo by Cliff West

Virginia & Truckee 2-6-0 locomotive #13, the Empire, was built by Baldwin in 1873. Ordered due to an upswing in freight traffic requiring a more powerful locomotive than the 4-4-0 American-type, the Empire was delivered in February 1873. By the late 1880s, the traffic surge had abated, and the Empire was held in reserve until it was overhauled and returned to regular freight service for another upswing in 1902. In 1910, it was converted from a wood-burner to an oil-burner, and was renumbered to #15, because superstitious crews thought the number 13 was unlucky. The Empire was retired and stored in 1918, and was sold to the Pacific Portland Cement Company of Gerlach, Nevada, where it became #501 and was used as a switcher until 1931, when it last operated. In 1938 it was donated to the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Locomotive and Railway Historical Society and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area for storage. It was cosmetically restored in 1966 at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation’s San Francisco shipyards. In 1976 it was moved to the new California State Railroad Museum’s Central Pacific Railroad Passenger Station in Sacramento, California, and two years later underwent a complete restoration. It was placed in the California State Railroad Museum’s Railroad History Museum in 1981.

Dunsmuir, California

Dunsmuir, California, was a division point on the Central Pacific and later Southern Pacific Railroad, where, in the days of steam, trains changed locomotives and crews at the base of the mountains. Though diesel locomotives reduced the town's importance to the railroad, Dunsmuir still celebrates its railroad history.

Photo by Cliff West

Southern Pacific steam locomotive #1727 is on static display at the city park in Dunsmuir.

Photo by Cliff West

Southern Pacific #1727 is an M-6 Class 2-6-0 Mogul built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in September 1901. It was donated to the city of Dunsmuir in June 1957.

Photo by Cliff West

Near the city park is a steel caboose painted to commemorate the Southern Pacific Railroad in Dunsmuir. Despite the paint job, this caboose was never owned or operated by the Southern Pacific. It was built for the Northern Pacific Railway in 1954 as #1068. Later it was renumbered to #10068. After the Northern Pacific Railway was merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad, this caboose became Burlington Northern #11411 and operated into the 1980s.

Illinois Central 2-6-0 #3719

Illinois Central #3719 is a 2-6-0 Mogul built in December 1900 by the Brooks Locomotive Works. It was originally #560 but was renumbered #3719 in July 1937 and renumbered again #3706. After retirement from Illinois Central, the locomotive was sold to the Bevier & Southern in Missouri to be their #109.  In 1963 it was sold to a locomotive dealer and eventually found its way to the Steamtown site in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Steamtown sold the locomotive in March 1986 and in May it was purchased by the Illinois Railway Museum. Interestingly, its tender wears the number 3039.  The reason for this remains a mystery (at least to me).

John Simakauskas has a picture of this locomotive on his Steamtown, Bellows Falls, Vermont, 1978 website. Check it out, and note that the tender has been numbered 3039 since at least 1978. If anybody has the answer to this minor mystery, let me know in the comments.

Continue to Toledo-Detroit 4-4-0 #16…