10/24/15 - Nevada State Railroad Museum

Nevada has three railroad museums.  There's one in Carson City, one in Boulder City, and one in Ely.  That's actually kind of interesting if you see it on a map.) We checked out the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City. In the summer they have steam train or motor car rides on weekends.

A lot of the trains and artifacts in the big museum are related to the state's mining history. Think silver and the Comstock Lode. This narrow-gauge steam locomotive is the Glenbrook.  Built it 1885, it pulled cut timbers from sawmills around Lake Tahoe. I love the colors and detail put into the decorations.

The museums signature piece is the Virginia & Truckee Railroad Locomotive #22, known as the INYO.  It's one of the oldest operating steam locomotives in the US.  You might recognize it  because it went to Hollywood and appeared in 29 movies--and starred in the Wild, Wild West TV show.

 I suppose I should have realized that the trains had names.  I'd heard of the Wabash Cannonball, the City of New Orleans, the Chattanooga Choo Choo.  This one's the Joe Douglas. 

The lady who sold us the tickets told us that the Restoration Building closes at 5:00, so we didn't spend a lot of time in the museum itself.  On the way outside, we saw this frame gallows turntable which is used to turn the trains from one direction to another.

 This ordinary building is the Restoration Building, where they restore trains--not buildings.

This is the V&T Railroad's No. 25.  I don't know if it has a name.

This is the McKeen Motor Car #22 built in 1910.  Before it was restored here, it became a diner. Fully restored now, they give rides on this one.  

Give yourself more than an hour if you like old trains.  If you don’t, I guess it doesn’t much matter.

There are more pictures from the museum here:  Nevada State RR Museum