Tag: mckeencar

The 4th of July is always a big weekend at the Nevada State Railroad Museum. That's when they pull their special collections out into the sunlight, like V&T Engine #22, "The Inyo", one of the oldest running steam locomotives in the country. This year they have a new star to bring out, the McKeen Motor Car that they just spent 14 years fixing up. And they have other running locomotives, #25 and #8, although #8 has been down for repairs for a couple of years now. Saturday I went down to the museum and got pictures of all the various equipment they had on display.

Updated: more videos added to the end.

Sunday was the big unveiling of the McKeen Motor Car at the Nevada State Railroad Museum. The car has been in the restoration shop for 14 years and now is all done and ready to take to public on rides. But more than that, May 9th was also the 100th anniversary of when the car first arrived in Carson City.

100 years ago the V&T bought this car as a cheap replacement to running their steam trains every day. It lasted 35 years, but eventually was retired in 1945. It spent several years as a diner in Carson City, then was used as part of a plumbing store in south Carson. In 1996 it was uprooted and dragged here to the museum, and ever since then they've been rebuilding it. Now it's finally done, and seriously looks as good as the day it was built.

I stopped by the railroad museum for a bit on Sunday, long enough to see the car run around the tracks a couple of times. But then they stopped operations for an hour so they could give speeches and have a ceremony and break champagne over the bow. I checked and the tickets were all sold out until later in the afternoon, so I didn't get a chance to ride. But I did grab this video of it cruising down the line.

Even though I wasn't able to ride, YouTube user ferroequine was and posted this video of a trip around the circle.

It was a big event at the Railroad Museum. There were speeches given, a choir was singing, and there were hot dogs and hamburgers. Steam engine #25 was even brought out and parked at the station, though it wasn't giving rides. We climbed up and talked to the engine crew, and they said they were just sitting there all day, with the smallest fire and the lowest steam pressure possible, killing time and adding atmosphere. It's a rare day when the steam engines at the museum aren't the star of the show, but that's how it was on Sunday.

What happens now isn't clear. They spent all this time rebuilding the McKeen car, and you know they want to put it on display and bring it out for rides. But I don't think they have any firm plans to do either yet. Their schedule only calls for the standard summer schedule of operating the little green motor car on most weekends, with steam coming out on a few select holidays. The advantage of the McKeen car, though, is that it's easy to fire it up and bring it out with a small crew, much easier than any of the steam engines. So I wouldn't be surprised to see it at least parked outside when the museum is having a big weekend, and maybe on the Fourth of July have it running around the track.

Here are some more pictures.

Update: More movies.

The crew at the Nevada State Railroad Museum has taken on an ambitious project - to rebuild the turntable at the museum in just a few weeks. The turntable sits right outside their main buildings, and without it in operation none of their locomotives and other equipment can get out onto the main track. It needed to be rebuilt, though, since I believe it was still the original turntable from when the museum opened about 30 years ago, and in this harsh Nevada climate things that are made of wood don't last long. Especially when you're expecting it to hold a 40-ton locomotive.

There is an extra urgency to this project, since they have a pretty firm deadline of May 9th to get the new turntable operational. That's the day the McKeen Motor Car makes its public debut, with a big ceremony and public rides around the museum's track. The problem is, the McKeen right now is on the other side of the turntable, so if it's not ready by then the big day will be kind of a dud. Says Wendell Huffman of the museum, "After 25+ years in the Nevada weather, the old table was so warped and broken that it barely functioned. Everything now depends upon the completion of the new table by the 9th. We believe we'll make it, but are enjoying the suspense nevertheless."

The old turntable in action

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.