Date Uploaded: July 22, 2024
Permanent Link: http://wnhpc.com/details/fb1041836111277285
Contributor: Virginia & Truckee Railroad Company on Facebook
Source: Facebook: Virginia & Truckee Railroad Company
Source URL: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1041836111277285&set=a.641410611319839
Source Caption: Hello V&T Nation and welcome to "Answer Friday"! This week, we asked if y'all's could call out the lie about Feather River Shortline #8. Apparently we need to do better cause most of y'all's got it right. The Gray Family never owned the locomotive the same way they own the 29 or 11. But, she does have an interesting ownership history nonetheless The #8 was built for the Hobart Southern Railroad in 1907 by Baldwin Locomotive Works at their famous Philadelphia plant. The big-boilered 2-6-2 spent the first 30 odd years of her working life hauling finished lumber from the Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Company mill in Hobart Mills, California to the interchange with the Southern Pacific Railroad in Truckee. If those names or places sound familiar to V&T enthusiasts, it is the same mill that bought V&T #21 and Eureka & Palisade #4 and where they would end their for-profit careers.The 8 spot would live in Hobart Mills until the railroad rolled up and died during the Great Depression. From there, she worked at the Red River Lumber Company at Westwood, Ca and the Clover Valley Lumber Company at Loyalton, Ca. And those are the places she could be tracked down. It is incredibly rare to find a logging engine that operated on just one or two operations. The engine would be retired by the Clover Valley Lumber Company in the 1960's where one Jim & Betty Boyngton. The couple along with a group of friends formed the Feather River Shortline Society and restored the #8 to operating condition and worked her on the Quincy Railroad on passenger excursions along the scenic mountain line. When Sierra Pacific wound down steam powered excursions, the #8 and her caretakers moved to the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, Ca. There, the locomotive would be used on the museum's loop track demonstrating an engine that worked alongside the old Western Pacific. Where do we fit in? Well, it just so happened that both Jim and Bob were friends and one conversation led to another to the point that in 1990, the #8 moved into the Virginia City Enginehouse. The locomotive would be used in conjunction with the 29 to provide daily steam train rides throughout the 1990's and was a participant in the "Golden Spike" Ceremony that opened up the railroad into Gold Hill, Nevada. When talking to old heads who were there in those days, the #8 is spoken of in a very positive light and is fondly remembered. So, why isn't she running today? The Gettysburg Boiler Explosion bears some of the blame as the incident sparked a whirlwind of regulation changes that caused many steam engines to be sidelined under the new rules. The other bit of the blame centers on the fact that the poor girl got flat worn out. At the same time #8 went down is roughly the same time as the 29 went down as well. The decision was made to focus on getting the 29 back up in service first. After that could the higher powers converse about the #8. That was the plan until the V&T Railway Commission bought the Big 18 which then took up more of the shop crews time and efforts. What also didn't help was that the Shortline Society's members started to feel their age and thus couldn't work on the engine like they used to. The #8 was put in a spur down in Gold Hill ujtil the mid 2010's. The deaths of Mkke Tackett, Jim & Betty Boyngton, and the engine passing to the Gold Hill Historical Society caused many questions to be raised about the engine which ultimately led to the #8 being transported down the mountain to a mine/quarry out in Mound House where she is to this day.
Download Photo: JPG (226 KB)
← Previous Photo
Next Photo →
