Friday, November 30, 2007

1870's era Virginia & Truckee Railroad 2-6-0 locomotive "Tahoe". The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Strasburg Pennsylvania USA. August 1990.

I took this photo inside the grand hall at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania located in the town of Strasburg PA.
Seen here is an 1875 built 2-6-0 Mogul type locomotive from the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. The Virginia & Truckee was a short line railroad that served the gold mining industry in the State of Nevada, and had went out of business in 1950.

The Virginia & Truckee was a unique little railroad, as they were using equipment that had long since qualified as being Museum Relics from the 1800's into the 20th century. Wood burning locomotives from the 1800's like the Tahoe seen here, had got the attention of Hollywood California Motion Picture Studio Producers, and many pieces found work as operating props in numerous Western Movies. One of the signifigant motion pictures using the old V & T equipment from the Victorian era, was Cecil B. DeMille's epic historic feature "Union Pacific" wich was occasionally shown in Chicago on the WGN TV Channel 9 Sunday afternoon program "Family Classics, wich was hosted by the late great Frazier Thomas.

Although the Tahoe had worked on a Nevada railroad, it is historically signifigant with the State of Pennsylvania, as it was built by the Baldwin locomotive Works in Philadelphia Pennsylvania.

No comments: