If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 573

 

 

 

 

 

The “Empire” at California State Railroad Museum, Old Sacramento, California

 

Wolfgang Kohz took the color photograph identified: B11030 on this unused postcard distributed by Fritz Vibe Enterprises of Sacramento, California.  It is a Mike Roberts Color Production card.  There is a blurb at the lower left corner on the reverse:  “The ‘Empire’ at California State Railroad Museum, Old Sacramento, California.  Although numbered 13 when built in 1873, its number was changed to 15 by enginemen to ward off bad luck.  It was renumbered 501 in 1924.  The engine was acquired by the Pacific Coast Chapter of Railway and Locomotive Historical Society in 1938.”

 

Headquartered in Virginia City, Nevada, the Virginia and Truckee R.R .is a privately owned heritage railroad with a 14 mile or 23 km route between Reno, south to Carson City, and Virginia City.  Printed on the Virginia & Truckee R.R. logo was “Queen of the Short Lines.”  Tickets were issued by the larger Central Pacific Railroad Company.  The first section of the rail line went from Virginia City to Carson City and was built in 1869.  It was used for hauling ore, lumber and other supplies for the Comstock Lode silver mines.  After years of declining revenue, by 1950 the railroad was abandoned, much of the track was pulled up and sold, along with locomotives and cars.  Public interest in historic railroads in the 1970s initiated the effort to rebuild and restore a portion of the line from Gold Hill to Mound House.  The rebuilding was accomplished with public funding and private donations.  The track is still being extended and restored and is used as a tourist line. 

 

The locomotives from the Virginia and Truckee RR and other equipment have appeared in numerous Westerns.  Many of the pieces have been restored and are displayed in museums across the country.  The Empire engine is a 2-6-0 Mogul type built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1873.  It had a long life as a freight engine.  I was curious as to when the number was changed from #13 to #15 and discovered that happened in 1910 when the wood burner was converted to oil.  As the blurb on the card stated, later in 1924 the number was changed again, this time to 501.  In 1938 the locomotive was retired and presented to the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society for preservation.  The Empire, beautifully restored and shown on the card, can be found today in the California State Railroad Museum, Old Sacramento, California. 

 

 The California State Railroad Museum is part of the state park system.  Twenty-one restored locomotives and railroad cars, some dating to 1862, are featured in the museum.  Next to the main museum building is the reconstructed 1870s Central Pacific Railroad passenger station and freight depot.  The museum operates a short 40 minute, 6 mile, round trip route along the Sacramento River between April and October. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_and_Truckee_Railroad

https://locomotive.fandom.com/wiki/Virginia_%26_Truckee_No._13_Empire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Railroad_Museum

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 189

 Sumpter Valley Railroad

Walter W. Klages took the photographs on this Signature Series, “Keep Scapes” postcard found it at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center Museum in Baker City, Oregon. 

The Sumpter Valley Railroad was incorporated in 1890 for the purpose of hauling logs to a sawmill owned by the Grande Ronde Lumber Company of Perry, Oregon.  As a sort of interesting side note, the railway was financed by Mormons in Utah.   The narrow gauge railway began offering passenger and freight service a year later in 1891.  To reach the uncut forests further west the company extended the line in stages.  Sumpter was reached in 1896, later it continued on to Whitney, Tipton, Austin and Bates.  By 1910 the train could travel as far as to a ranching and mining community called Prairie City in Grant County. 

Automobiles and trucks began causing the railway to lose business and by 1933 the 20 miles of track between Prairie City and Bates were abandoned.  Passenger service on the remaining line ended in 1937.  In 1947 it ceased all operations except for 1.5 miles of track in the Oregon Lumber Company yard in South Baker City.  The last section was removed in 1961. 

A group of volunteers set out to rebuild the Sumpter Valley Railway in 1971.  The first locomotive, No. 3, a 1915 Heisler-type steam locomotive was restored and operational by 4 July 1976 on a track of less than one mile.  Over the next 15 years 6 miles of track were reinstalled by hand to connect the station at McEwen, Oregon with Sumpter, Oregon.  A second locomotive, SVR No. 19, a type 2-8-2 steam locomotive originally built in 1920, pictured on the postcard above, was restored and operational by 1996.

 Every summer since 2007 the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department has operated a number of steam locomotives along the narrow gauge logging railroad line.  Also, in Prairie City the Sumpter Valley Railway Passenger station has been renovated by the Sumpter Valley Depot Restoration Committee.  It houses the DeWitt Museum with a collection of lanterns, lights, other railway artifacts, and photographs of the history of life along the rail line including train wrecks. 

For additional information, please see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumpter_Valley_Railway
http://www.sumptervalleyrailroad.org/