Ain't she sweet? Virginia & Truckee Locomotive #22 "Inyo" makes a morning runby on the "back 40" at the Nevada State Railroad Museum for the cameras of a Lerro Productions Charter, in February of 2020. Although 4-4-0 "American Standard" Locomotives were ubiquitous 150 years ago, they are as rare as hen's teeth today. In fact, the locomotive you see here is really the last of its kind that can still operate under its own power. It also holds the distinction of being the oldest, standard gauge locomotive in the US, that is still operating with its original boiler!.
Built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1875 for the Virginia & Truckee Railway, she was the last of 5 V&T engines that were built specifically for passenger service. Like many of her sisters, she was built as a woodburner, and converted to burn oil in the early 20th century, when wood became too expensive...LOL! Although the V&T began selling off or scrapping many of its older 2-6-0 freight engines after 1900, the railroad hung on to several of the pretty 4-4-0s, squirreling them away in the massive Carson City Engine House, known as the "Great Stone Fort". Engines such as the Inyo were kept in semi-retirement, and brought out now and then for special excursions. In the late 1930s, when the movie industry craved western films, the 4-4-0s were sold off to movie studios to begin second careers as movie stars. Inyo ended up at Paramount Studios, where she made numerous films. In the 1950s, she was loaned to Walt Disney studios, where she played one of her most famous roles as the Locomotive "Texas" in the "Great Locomotive Chase". In the 1960s, Inyo filled in for the long-since-scrapped Central Pacific "Jupiter" at the Centennial of the Golden Spike Ceremony. In 1974, the Inyo was acquired by the State of Nevada and was restored to her 1875 appearance. She now resides in the halls of the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, but as you see here, she is hardly stuffed and mounted. Inyo is still an operable wood-burner and is normally steamed up and run on the museum grounds, each year on the Fourth of July. In February of 2020, the museum made an exception for this Lerro Productions event, and all of the attendees got to see a rare, wintertime appearance of Inyo under steam, along with the restored V&T Coach #4.
