A California transplant on the new V&T. The former McCloud Railway Locomotive #18 charges out of the east portal of Tunnel #4 with a photo freight on the reconstructed Virginia & Truckee line from Carson City to Virginia City, NV. Although she's still in McCloud livery, this locomotive is now the new V&T's most powerful engine. For the past several years, she's been the primary power on the line's Carson City trips. Given that she's owned by the Nevada State Commission, it's a bit surprising that she hasn't yet been lettered for the V&T. Assuming that ever happens, she'd probably get the number 30, in keeping with the practice of extending the historic line's old numbering system. During 2016 and early 2017, this locomotive underwent a 1,472-day inspection and should be back in service during the summer of 2017. It will be interesting to see how she's painted and lettered when she emerges from the shops.
The tunnel you see in this photo was historically known as the "Yellow Jacket Tunnel". It was the 4th of 5 tunnels on the run from Carson City to Virginia City, and there were actually two more tunnels in Virginia City itself. This particular tunnel is 465 ft long and is located above Gold Hill Depot. The grade going uphill to VC is 2.1%. The locomotive depicted here is working pretty hard and not going very fast. On the original V&T, this tunnel was lined with wooden timbers....and of course, most of the original V&T engines were WOOD-BURNERS. Yeah, they burned up the tunnel timbers at least a couple of times back in the day. When the tunnel was reopened for the new V&T in 1987, all of the internal bracing was done with welded steel. With only oil-burners on the line today, they no longer worry about fires in this tunnel, but the waste-oil exhaust fumes can still get a little intense in there as the train struggles up the hill to VC.
