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Photo of Engine No. 18, The Dayton
Photo courtesy of Nevada
State Railroad Museum |
In 1870, Nevada's first short-line railroad, the Virginia and Truckee
Railroad (V&T), was completed between Carson City and Virginia City. Two
years later, the track was extended to Reno to connect with the transcontinental
Central Pacific Railroad. The V&T was the brain child of William Sharon,
William Ralston and D.O. Mills of the Bank of California in San Francisco.
They feared that Adolf Sutro's plan to drain the Comstock mines of water
through an ingenious tunnel would adversely affect the bank-held monopoly
of mills along the Carson River. William Sharon petitioned the Nevada
legislature and received funds to build the railroad. This calculated
move stalled the tunnel's completion for many years. The line served to
haul ore from Virginia City to the mills in Carson City, lumber from the
Sierra Nevada, and passengers traveling between Virginia City, Carson
City, Reno and Minden (south of Carson City). The V&T operated from 1869
until 1950.
Photo of Engine No. 22, The Inyo
Photo courtesy of Nevada
State Railroad Museum |
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Competition with cars and trucks in the 1920s and 1930s brought the V&T
near bankruptcy, forcing the business to sell equipment and trains to
collectors and Hollywood movie studios for Western movies, with the last
run from Reno to Minden on May 31, 1950. About 50 pieces of the railroad
remain today, more than half of which are housed at the Nevada State Railroad
Museum, including two locomotives listed in the National Register of Historic
Places, the Dayton and Inyo. Both locomotives saw intermittent
service between the 1870s and 1930s. No. 18, the Dayton, was built
in 1873, and is the sole survivor of the 62 locomotives built at the Central
Pacific Railroad shops in Sacramento, California. The Dayton was
used for passenger and snow service. Locomotive No. 22, the Inyo,
was built in 1875 by Baldwin Locomotives and used for passenger and freight
service. Both the Dayton and Inyo were sold to Paramount
Pictures Corp. in 1937. In 1939, the Dayton was used for a publicity
run to New York promoting a Cecil B. DeMille film. Both locomotives were
part of the National Park Service's celebration of the centennial of the
transcontinental railroad in 1969, and displayed at the Golden Spike National
Historic Site in Promontory Point, Utah, before they were brought to the
museum.
Other railroad cars of interest at the museum include Locomotive No. 27
(unnamed), the last one purchased by V&T in 1913 and retired in 1948;
the completely restored Caboose-coach No. 9; the V&T Express Mail No.
21, originally built in the railroad's own shops in 1906, and later used
by Paramount Pictures in their movies through the 1970s; Express Mail
No. 21, awaiting restoration; and Locomotive No. 25 (also unnamed), converted
to an oil-burning boiler in 1907, that served as a back-up to the popular
"Reno" No. 11. Locomotive No. 25 runs during special "steam-up" events
throughout the year at the museum. Other V&T railroad cars and locomotives
are on display at the California State Railroad Museum, the Railroad Museum
of Pennsylvania and Old Tucson Studios.
Virginia and Truckee RR. Engine No. 18, the Dayton, is located at the Comstock History Center at 20 North E. Street, Virginia City, NV 89440, which is open to the public from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm Thursdays and Sundays. Virginia and Truckee RR. Engine No. 22, the Inyo, is located at the Nevada State Railroad Museum, on Hwy. 395 (Carson St.) at Fairview Ave. in Carson City. The museum is open to
the public 8:30am to 4:30pm daily; there is a fee for adult admission.
For further information or for special events check the museum's website
or call 775-687-6953
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