Virginia & Truckee Railroad on its last trip

ID # 38,588

Virginia & Truckee Railroad on its last trip. This historical line finally lost out to highway transportation, after almost a century of colorful activity.

The Highland Light

ID # 909

VIRGINIA & TRUCKEE

No. 12, the Genoa, and No. 11, the Reno, both eight-wheelers, doublehead a string of Pullmans in this painting by Howard Fogg of the Afternoon Express on the Virginia & Truckee. The V. & T. was the fabulous gold- and silver-mining railroad of Nevada in the late 1870's, during the roaring days of the Comstock Lode. Such trains brought the gaudy new gentry up steep grades from San Francisco to the luxury and excitement of Virginia City. The Genoa, built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1872 and retired but not scrapped in 1912, is a fine example of the 4-4-0 in its prime. The V. & T. ran ancient engines and brightly painted wooden cars with open platforms until 1959. Then the rolling stock went to Hollywood movie studios while the rails joined the sorrowful roster of picturesque but vanished American shortlines.

COLLECTION OF LUCIUS BEEBE AND CHARLES CLEGG