The sisters re-united after 80 years! Posing side-by-side on the last morning of the July, 2022 "Great Western Steam-Up" event at the Nevada State Railroad Museum are two, somewhat different-looking locomotives, which share a common bond. They are actually sisters, built in 1875 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, originally for the Carson & Tahoe Lumber & Fluming Company near Lake Tahoe, in Douglas County, NV. When first built, these two engines were identical and looked like the one on the left, which is named "Glenbrook". The other locomotive was appropriately named "Tahoe." Both were narrow gauge, wood-burning Mogul types. When their original owner went out of business in 1898, the two sisters parted company. Glenbrook went to another operation in the region, and Tahoe was sold to the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad. Eventually, Glenbrook was also sold to Nevada County Narrow Gauge, as a parts source for the Tahoe. When that line went out of business in 1942, the engines parted company again. Glenbrook was saved from the scrap heap and donated to the Nevada State Museum and eventually ended up in the hands of the Nevada State Railroad Museum, where, after a long, protracted effort, she was finally restored to her as-built condition in 2015. The Tahoe spent some years working in movie roles, before finally ending up in the hands of the Nevada County Historical Society. She was only restored to operation very recently and interestingly enough, she was restored using a new boiler that was originally built for the Glenbrook during her restoration effort.
The upshot of all of this is that the two sisters are both running again, and living not far from each other. In this view, Glenbrook represents what both would have looked like upon delivery from the Baldwin Factory, and Tahoe represents what both likely looked like at the ends of their working careers.
Thanks are due to NSRM Trainmaster Kevin Owens, who kindly positioned both of these engines so photographers present on the last day of this event could photograph the two sisters together after 80 years of separation.
