Tag: mckeencar

Of all the things for me to miss...Peter Barton of the Nevada State Railroad Museum posted this message to Facebook today (Thursday):

A little before 9am today the railroad restoration shop crew at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City eased McKeen Motor Car, V&T No. 22 out of the shop and gingerly, ever so slowly, onto the turntable. Amazingly the wheel sets just fit on the table. So, the next obvious question to answer was whether the car could be turned. She could and we did. So now, lined up to the A” Line should we tempt fate and make the ultimate test of our confidence and move the car onto the railroad? We did. She moved smoothly through the first set of switches, over the diamond and down into the “hole.” More switches, moving southbound now, headed to Wabuska Depot. Crossing the first grade crossing and easing up along the platform at Wabuska. Would she clear the platform? She did. We observed carefully to insure she fit under the water tower. She did. More switches, more power and we started up the hill. Around the loop the car moved almost effortlessly. Brakes worked fine, power was ample, back to the Depot. We climbed off and stood silently in the sun observing the car and the depot – a scene of a century ago yet frozen still in time. Filled with emotion, we couldn’t speak but we knew the importance of this moment. Back aboard, retracing our route and back onto the turntable. On the ground admiring this awesome living artifact sitting astride the turntable, we shook hands and noted those who made this day possible: DeWitt, Stiver, Hobold, Tatum, Harding, Huffman, Ackerman, O’Cain, Smith, Wyatt, Drew, and Bernhard to name but a few. Chris DeWitt backed the car off of the turntable and back into the shop.

Now that I would have liked to see.

Nevada Appeal: State Railroad Museum seeks original riders of the historic McKeen Motor Car

The Nevada State Railroad Museum will mark the 100th year anniversary of the arrival in Carson City of the historic McKeen Motor Car on May 9 with a celebration scheduled for May 10.

The museum is seeking individuals who remember riding the McKeen Car during its original service on the famed Virginia & Truckee Railway between 1910 and 1945.

“We know of some existing residents who rode the McKeen car as children or young adults,” said Peter Barton, acting administrator of Museums & History. “We suspect there may be others out there, considering the McKeen Car was in service for over 35 years.”

Individuals who remember riding the car are urged to contact Teresa Moiola at 775-687-8323 or tmoiola@nevada culture.org to share their story and participate in the upcoming commemorative festivities.

The McKeen Motor Car, which has been under renovation at the Nevada State Railroad Museum for the last 14 years, is finally finished and ready to be publicly unveiled. This isn't the first time it's been out in the sunlight; they've taken it out a few times before, and I even had the perfect timing last year to be able to see it when it was out. But last year only the exterior was finished; the engine or power train hadn't been installed yet. Now it's all done, save a few finishing touches, and a date has been set for it to make its first public appearance.

May 9th, 2010, is the 100th anniversary of when the McKeen car first arrived in Carson City to run on the V&T Railroad. And that is the date the ceremony will be held to celebrate the completion of the renovation. A big gala will be held at Wabuska Station at the Railroad Museum, and a limited number of tickets will be sold to ride the car at $10 per adult.

For anyone who's been watching this renovation project, this is an exciting day. I'll be sure to be there on May 9th, which is also Mother's Day, to see the McKeen Car finally come out of its hiding hole.

More info is at the NSRM Friends site.

Restoration work on the McKeen Motor Car is coming along very nicely. This old rail car is at the Nevada State Railroad Museum, where they've been working on rebuilding it for the last 13 years. It's almost all done now, and probably will be ready to be put on display for the public next spring. But last week they brought it out into the sunlight for a little bit, and it's looking as great as it did in February when I got pictures of it.

BBkld on Flickr has some photos that were taken by Susan Searcy of the Nevada State Library and Archives. You can go there to see the whole set.

Photo by Flickr user BBkld

Photo by Flickr user BBkld

This may not be what most of you would consider "exciting", but one of the most exciting things happened today. I was driving by the Railroad Museum in Carson City, and every time I do I peek over at the shops to see if there is any equipment sitting outside. usually it's just their flatcars sitting out there, but sometimes they'll pull out one of the engines or a passenger car, and I'm always curious to see what they have out. Just something to kill five seconds while I drive down the road.

But today when I peeked over, I saw something I had never seen outside before, something that made my heart jump a little, and I swerved to get into the turn lane so I could pull into the museum's parking lot. Because what they had pulled out today was none other than the McKeen Motor Car, when has been buried in the back reaches of the restoration shop undergoing a full rebuild for over 12 years now.

The McKeen car is one of the prize pieces of the Railroad Museum's collection. It was built in 1910 and ran on the V&T Railroad for around 35 years. After it was retired it was turned into a roadside diner, then incorporated as office space for a plumbing supply store. In 1996 it was donated to the railroad museum, and they have been working ever since on renovating it to full operating condition. All that time it's been hidden away from public view in the shop, and work has been very slow as they've only been doing it as money allows.

Of course, they've also been taking extra time on this renovation because they want to make sure it's done just right, and also because they want to get it operating again. It's not just going to sit around as a museum piece, it's actually going to pull passengers around the museum's circle track when it's done. So they had to make sure it was not only beautiful but functional as well. Every time I've gone to the museum I've peeked through a grimy window in the corner, trying to get a glimpse of the car as it sat in the dark shop. But today, for whatever reason, they pulled it out to get some sun.

Not that it actually saw the sun; today was completely overcast. But still the car got to be let outside to get a deep breath of fresh air, and because I was going by at the right time I got to take some pictures of it. And it is looking gorgeous. The outside paint job is completely done, a deep rich burgundy with gold lettering. The interior was roped off and looked like it still needed some detail work, but seemed to be plush and comfortable. The light mounted directly in the middle of the windsplitter front end is different from historic pictures of the car from the 1930s, when it had a ungainly locomotive headlamp bolted to its roof. But the way they rebuilt it actually matches up better to the way it was when it was first delivered from the factory, 99 years ago. The V&T replaced the light at some point.

It seems like the saga of the McKeen Car has been going on forever, and it is heartening to see the progress this far along. I think they have enough momentum to get it done very soon, and I'm not sure if they're going to unveil it this year or wait until next year, 2010, the centennial year of the car. Whatever they do, it will be great to see it out there driving on the rails again, 65 years after being retired from service. Maybe it won't be as exciting for visitors as riding behind a steam locomotive, but it should still be fun, and extra meaningful for everyone who knows the full story behind it.

Kudos to the museum staff for an excellent job here.

Articles from the Nevada Appeal on the McKeen Car:
Historic V&T railcar gets money to finish restoration
Out of the shadows: The McKeen Motor Car

The 2007 Historic Preservation Awards are here, and three winners have been announced. The Belknap House on Nevada Street, the Yerington House on Division, and the McKeen Car #22, which is currently under restoration at the Railroad Museum.

Read the Nevada Appeal article, look at the city's website to see how the Cactus Jack's sign just barely lost out, or go here to see the Appeal's video on the McKeen car from a couple of months ago.

If my computer had a "Thumbs Up" button like my TiVo does, I'd be clicking it repeatedly right now. More like this. More like this.

Video from the Nevada Appeal.

More info on McKeen #22.

Today the Nevada Appeal has a feature article about the McKeen motor car, one of the pieces of V&T equipment from the olden days. The car was bought from the McKeen company in 1910 when the railroad needed some less expensive equipment that it could use to make daily runs from Reno to Carson to Minden. These motor cars ran on gasoline instead of steam and made for good "commuter" vehicles to carry passengers and mail. The railroad, over its lifetime, gathered a motley fleet of these cars, in a wide variety of body styles and from a wide variety of manufacturers. But this particular car, #22, was the only McKeen in the roster. In fact, only 150 of these cars, with their round portholes and distinctive "wind-splitter" design, were ever even built. They ended up scattered all around the country, and most of them were scrapped after they had outlived their usefulness. But not V&T #22. It is one of only three or four that have survived to the present day.

The lucky thing that saved #22 is that a use was found for it after the railroad didn't need it anymore. In 1945 the V&T put #22 out of service, but instead of scrapping it, the car was sold and converted into a diner. The wheels were removed, it was mounted on a foundation near the corner of Carson and William Streets, and it opened as Denny's Diner.

Denny's Diner at William Street, with the Richfield gas station in the background.

Inside Denny's Diner.

Denny's Diner didn't last more than a few years, but again #22 got a repreive. It was moved a few blocks away, to Long Street, and reopened as the Super Chief Diner.

A postcard of the Super Chief Diner.

But again #22 couldn't find rest. In 1955 it was moved again, this time ending up along Carson Street at the south end of town. This was at 1400 S Carson St, right where Batteries Plus is today. And at last the McKeen car found a little bit of peace; it was modified and attached to a wooden building on the site, and it ended up staying there for over 40 years. Joining it was another motor car that had operated in Yerington, a Hall-Scott vehicle that was also, coincidentally, numbered #22. By the 1960s both motor cars, and the building connecting them, were owned by Al Bernhard, and for decades they operated as part of "Al's Plumbing and Heating". If you've lived in Carson long enough you can probably remember seeing them there.

In the early 1980s the Nevada State Railroad Museum opened up in Carson City, and started rounding up all the old V&T equipment they could get their hands on. #22 was one of the pieces they were interested in, and it took over a decade of negotiation before Al agreed to donate the car to the museum. On April 22, 1996, #22 was torn off its foundations once again and made the move a few blocks south to the railroad museum. Restoration work started almost right away, but a lack of funding made sure that it would be slow-going. And in fact here we are, ten years later, and still #22 isn't finished.

Which brings us back to the Nevada Appeal article. More money is currently being shuffled around and reallocated to try to give the McKeen car what it needs to get finished. Which is about $120,000. But when it's done the car will be fully restored, back to the sparkling new condition it was in in 1910, and with a brand-new engine that will let it run around the Railroad Museum's short piece of track. And who knows, maybe - just wildly speculating here - when the V&T track from Carson City to Virginia City is finished, in four or five years or however long it's going to take, they'll be able to run the McKeen car on those tracks too. Back in service, after all these years.

Some McKeen links:

• NSRM's McKeen page
• Photos of the 1996 move
• #22 listed on the National Register of Historic Places
• www.mckeen-motor-car.com