The J.W. Bowker was the first engine of its class (2-4-0) build to Virgina & Truckee Railroad specifications by Baldwin Locomotive Works. It is also one of the oldest locomotives in the Museum's collection. Not only a reliable workhorse for the Virginia & Truckee Railroad, it was also gained some fame on the silver screen.
Baldwin Locomotive Works built No. 21 and delivered it to the Virginia & Truckee Railroad in 1875. It mainly served 20 years as a switch engine in the Virginia City yards and was later sold to the Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Company of Hobart Mills, California in 1896.
A switch engine is a locomotive which is tasked with "building" trains in the railyard before they depart. They load up the leading engine with a "train" of rail cars!
J.W. Bowker was one of the first locomotives restored by the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society (PCC). In 1969, PCC donated the Bowker, and many other locomotives that make up our core collection, to The California State Railroad Museum.
Locomotive Stats:
- Builder - Baldwin Locomotive Works Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Year Built: February 1875
- Type: 2-4-0
- Drivers: 48 1/4 inches
- Gauge: 4 feet 8 1/2 inches
- Boiler Pressure: 120 lbs
- Cylinders: 14 inch diameter x 22 inch stroke
- Fuel: Wood
- Weight: 65,000 lbs
- Length: 49 feet
- Tractive Force: 9,970 lbs
Fun Fact! The Bowker wasn't always called "the Bowker." Many engines often go through name changes during their service, but after only 4 months in operation, its name was suddenly changed. The reason? The engine's namesake, John William Bowker was fired from the Virginia & Truckee Railroad after a raucous display of drunken disorderly conduct at work. V&T swiftly (and briefly) renamed the engine "Mexico."