A HISTORIC RESTORATION OF NEVADA STEAM
BY WAYNE MONGER/PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
in 2015, 140 years after it first arrived in the state and 35 years after the initial restoration efforts began. Glenbrook, a three-foot gauge 2-6-0 built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1874, began a new chapter in its life when it was steamed up for the Nevada State Railroad Museum’s 35th anniversary celebration on May 23, 2015.
A Timber Railroading History
To get some perspective on the importance of Glenbrook, let’s go back in Nevada rail history. One of the railroads that helped develop Nevada was the Carson & Tahoe Lumber & Fluming Company (C&TL&F). Incorporated in 1873 with offices in Carson City, the
36 OCTOBER 2015 •
RAILFAN.COM
LOCOMOTIVE THAT HAS LIVED ALMOST its entire life in the state of Nevada was brought back to life
company was one of some 40 affiliated mining, milling, lumber, and railroad operations throughout Nevada and eastern California run by the same financial backers and operating officers who had started the famed Virginia & Truckee. The company had large sawmills located at Glenbrook on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe, and logs were rafted across the lake from all points along the shore. For the few who had the privilege to
ride over the C&TL&F line, the view was spectacular. A writer in Thompson and West’s History of Nevada report- ed the enormity of the engineering ac- complished in 1881: “In passing up the steep mountain from the lake, the road makes a long half-curve in going to the east, and comes to an abrupt terminus like the letter ‘Z.’ From this point, it runs
back along the same face of the moun- tain 6000 feet, going up continuously un- til it terminates, this time upon a tres- tle-work built out over lake, up so high that it makes one shudder to look down upon the water below, and from where is presented a scenic effect surpassed in few places in America. Again it traverses the same side of the mountain, still go- ing up until an elevation is reached that carries it out to the east over the sum- mit, having passed back and forth three times to reach the point along the face of a mountain so steep that a stone started at the top would roll to the bottom of it.”
The Glenbrook Arrives in Nevada To aid construction and ultimately
pull trains for the C&TL&F railroad, the locomotives Glenbrook and Tahoe were ordered from Baldwin Locomotive
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