Splitting the signals. Spewing out a plume that would make Beebe & Clegg smile, Clover Valley Lumber Company's saddle-tanker #4 splits the twin semaphores just west of Sunol Depot, in the l... (more)

Westbound local. Clover Valley Lumber Company saddle-tanker #4 runs compass west with a local freight on the Niles Canyon Railway in the low-angle afternoon sun.

Clover Valley Lumber #4 ... (more)

Double-headed, compound, articulated Mallets. Here's a head-on view of Columbia River Belt Line #7 "Skookum" and Clover Valley Lumber Company #4 charging westbound with a mixed freight in t... (more)

A rare event in the 21st century. There are not many articulated steam locomotives left in running condition in the year 2020. You can pretty much count them on one set of fingers. So ... (more)

Clover Valley Lumber #4 and the "Burning of Rome". At just above every charter, we'll get one photographer who gets really grumpy after a run-by that features an almost completely... (more)

Vallejo Mill. On a beautiful, sunny day in February, Clover Valley Lumber Co. #4 climbs the grade at Vallejo Mill with a local freight consist in tow, headed for Niles Yard, perhaps a half ... (more)

Charging across Farwell Bridge. Here we see the beefy, Clover Valley #4, an articulated saddle-tanker, as she hauls her mixed freight across the Farwell Bridge at about MP 31.7. One of the... (more)

Mixed freight to Sunol. With a marine fog bank just beginning to burn off of Niles Canyon, Clover Valley Baldwin #4 hauls a consist of mixed freight east toward Sunol. Operating on roughly... (more)

Articulated Log-Hogs. At least as of February of 2020, California's Niles Canyon Railway was about the only place I know of where you could see a pair of compound, articulated Mallet Locomo... (more)

Queen of the Short Lines......proclaims the crest on V&T Caboose 25, as her short freight makes its way across the Crown Point Fill, just prior to stopping at Gold Hill Station. The Virgini... (more)

A little late-day glint at Donovan. We're just a few minutes from alpine sunset and barely 200 yards north of Donovan siding as we watch a V&T freight powering its way up the average 2.2% g... (more)

The V&T Steam Line-Up. During our 2020 Lerro Productions Charter on the Virginia & Truckee Railroad, we were fortunate to be able to get a quick look at both of the line's steam engines tog... (more)

Virginia & Truckee #29. There were 27 locomotives originally built for the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. Nine of these locomotives survive, all of which are in museums. When Robert Gray be... (more)

The crookedest short-line in America. Just north of American Flat Tunnel, a V&T Freight runs compass south as it races toward the mining town of Gold Hill....which is visible above and dire... (more)

Steamscape: Crown Point. The reconstructed Virginia & Truckee Railroad is one of my favorite steam operations in all of the US. Why? Well, because it is one of the few places where you c... (more)