Virginia & Truckee Railroad, a 52-mile railroad in northern Nevada, took delivery of 2-6-0 13, Empire, in February 1873. In 1910, the Carson City shops converted the Empire from wood to fuel oil (and the smokestack was changed to a straight stack). Because V&T engine crews considered No. 13 an unlucky number, the number was changed to V&T second No. 15 at this time.
Due to declining business, the V&T placed engine 13 in storage and, a bit later, retired it in 1918. It was sold in 1924 to the Pacific Portland Cement Company of Gerlach, Nevada, where it saw service as PPC Co. switcher No. 501 until 1931. In 1938, the Empire was donated to the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where it remained until 1966 when it underwent a cosmetic restoration at Bethlehem Steel Corporation’s San Francisco shipbuilding yards. This locomotive would eventually become part of the collection at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, where it has been on display since CSRM opened in 1981. (Sacramento, California – June 23, 2025)
