V&T Engine #21, J. W. Bowker

San Francisco Public Library

In the 1950s, V&T Engine #21, J. W. Bowker was the property of the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society. It was being stored in Oakland with some of the Society's other artifacts. Here San Francisco Mayor George Christopher, on the left, and railroad historian Gilbert Kneiss, on the right, pose with the locomotive. The Society worked for decades to try to establish a railroad museum somewhere in California. They finally succeeded in 1981 with the opening of the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. The J. W. Bowker has been at the museum since then, until 2022 when it was loaned to the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City.

Date Uploaded: November 29, 2024

Permanent Link: http://wnhpc.com/details/sfpl138097

Source: San Francisco Public Library - Special Collections

Source URL: https://digitalsf.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A138097

Source Caption: [Mayor George Christopher and Gilbert Kneiss posing in front of an historic train]

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