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.
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.
Virginia & Truckee 4-4-0
locomotive #12, the Genoa, was built
by Baldwin in January 1873. The Virginia & Truckee Railroad Company was organized
on March 5, 1868, and the 21-mile route between Carson City and Virginia City was
completed on January 29, 1870, with an extension connecting Carson City to the
Central Pacific Railroad in Reno completed in August 1872. The Genoa pulled passenger, freight and
mixed trains on the V&T for nearly 30 years. On December 31, 1908, the Genoa was retired and stored in the
Carson City engine house, where it remained until it was sold to the Eastern
Railroads Presidents’ Conference in 1939. The Genoa was modified to resemble Central Pacific Railroad #60 Jupiter, one of the locomotives at the
driving of the golden spike completing the transcontinental railroad in 1869.
It was used in the Railroads on Parade pageant at the 1939-1940 World’s Fair in
New York City, and operated at the 1948 Chicago Railroad Fair. It was donated
to the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical
Society, which presented it to the state of California in 1969. For the 100th anniversary
of the transcontinental railroad, Genoa
It reprised its role as Jupiter for
the golden spike reenactment at Promontory Summit in Utah, with Virginia &
Truckee #11 Reno playing the part of
Union Pacific #119. The Genoa’s last
run was at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California, in
May 1979. It was then restored to its 1902 appearance as seen here.
