While on a trip to Virgina City,NV in July of 2000, I took a picture of 2-6-2 Feather River Shortline #8 operating on the V&T. Anyone know what happened to this loco?? Also, is this indeed ex Clover Valley #8, nee Hobart Southern #8?? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Ok, after extensive research, I've answered my own question. Yes, FRS #8 on the V&T is ex Hobart Southern. Currently she is being extensively rebuilt. Here is a pic of her as HS#8 and I'll post my V&T pic soon.
Hobart Southern connected Truckee,CA to Hobart Mills,CA which is just north of Truckee on Hwy 89. There were extensive logging roads up there including the Verdi Lumber Co, Clover Valley Lumber, the famed Boca & Loyalton nearby and even Crown Willamette Paper. One of these roads was the Hobart Estates. This company encompassed the Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Co Railroad, the Hobart Mills RR, and the Hobart Southern RR. Hobart Southern was the standard guage connection to the Southern Pacific at Truckee. The other Hobart roads were all narrow guage. Seems little #8 went from Hobart Southern to Clover Valley then got put on display in Quincy,CA. After this it was picked up by a private owner for his Feather River Shortline that was supposed to have run out of Portola,CA. I have very sketchy info on this but it seems the deal didn't work out so he loaned V&T the #8. I tell ya, there sure was alot of railroading up in these hills.
Here we have #8 on a beautiful summer afternoon. She is just departing Gold Hill,NV for her run up the mountain to Virginia City,NV. Year is 2000!!
I think the headlight looks much better in this latest photo. Somehow, on HSRR, it just looked too large. Boxcab E50
John, The number 8 did infact run at the Portola Railroad museum. It was there until Jim Boynton's death in 1982. When Jim died he was putting a contract together with Bob Gray at the V&T to move the #8 there from Portola. Jim's wife Betty made sure that the move did take place. The reason the #8 did not run much at FRRS is because there was no love lost between Jim and Norm Holmes. Norm had his own agenda and figured that as he founded the museum that he owned it. If you did not play by his rules he made sure you did not play at all. I heard this echoed many times during board meetings. There is a whole long story about how things ran during that time but its not for this board. Jim retrived the #8 and spent lots of his own money making her run again. I am glad to see Bob Gray and his group are keeping his loco alive and well. Shannon Current member Feather River Short Line
Shannon, Thanks for the additional info!!!! #8 is said to be currently under reconstruction/rebuilding. I did notice a difference in the two pics which brings up a question. Was it at one time converted from coal/wood burning to oil burning??
The #8 is not currently in service. Both of steam locomotives on the V&T (#8 and the #29, ex-Longview Portland & Northern/Willamina & Grande Ronde 2-8-0 #680) were sidelined by the new boiler regulations at the beginning of 2002. The first year the V&T used ex-Quincy Railroad GE 44-ton diesel #3, and then in late 2002/early 2003 they swapped a turntable to the Portola Railroad Museum for an ex-Military GE 65-ton diesel, which got a full V&T yellow and green paint job and the number D-1. The D-1 has held down the railroad for the last two seasons. The V&T's annual brochure for the past three years has read "a diesel will be used for the first part of the summer". I suspect that the V&T may be having trouble financing the required work to get the two steamers back in operation. We'll see what next year brings. To add to the survival story of the #8...the other steam locomotive Clover Valley rostered in their final years of operation is also still around, although not currently operational. When the railroad shut down their Baldwin 2-6-6-2 #4 went to a sawmill in Verdi, CA, where it served for quite a few years as a stationary boiler. Eventually the Pacific Locomotive Association found out about the locomotive and got it. The #4 ran for a few years at their Castro Point Railroad. It made the move to Niles Canyon with the rest of the collection, where it now rests. At the end Clover Valley had three locomotives on their roster...the #8 handled the switching around the log camps near the end of the line and a short road haul to a siding on the line. The #4 powered the long road jobs that ran north from Loyalton to the connection with the #8's train before returning to Loyalton with loads. The third locomotive was a small Plymouth switcher which handled mill switching chores, mostly dumping log loads into the mill pond. It was a fascinating little operation...a couple good articles about the company have appeared in recent issues of the WP Headlight...contact the Portola Museum for information on getting copies. Jeff Moore Elko, NV http://www.trainweb.org/mccloudrails http://www.trainweb.org/highdesertrails
