V&T Survivor: #12 "Genoa". Named for a small town in Western Nevada, V&T Locomotive #12 is another one of the V&T survivors that hasn't seen daylight in a long time. Sent to the "Great Western Steam-Up" from the California State Railroad Museum as part of a 2-year loan, this locomotive is stunning in the mid-summer sun in Nevada. This classic 4-4-0 American Standard was built in 1873 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Virginia & Truckee Railway, and for the next 30 years, she hauled passenger, mixed and occasionally freight trains over the entire length of the shortline between Reno, Carson City and Virginia City. This locomotive was a favorite with railroad crews and was typically maintained in the sort of "spit and polish" condition you see here.
Semi-retired in 1908, this engine spent her next 30 years squirreled away in the "Great Stone Fort", which was the V&T's engine house in Carson City, covered and protected by those who understood her value. Finally, in 1939, she was sold to the Eastern Railroads Presidents' Conference and began a second career as a showpiece and excursion engine. She appeared at the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair and several rail-related events and celebrations over the next 40 years. She even stood in for the long-scrapped Central Pacific Jupiter at the Centennial of the Golden Spike Ceremony in 1969. Her last operation was in 1979, just before she was restored to her 1902 appearance with a sunflower-style stack and rolled into the California State Railroad Museum.
Interestingly, Genoa is one of the only long-time V&T locomotives that was never converted to oil-firing. Even today, she's still a wood-burner, just as God and Baldwin intended, and looks for all the world like you could fill up her boiler and put a fire in her.
