Part 1: Virginia & Truckee Rolls McCloud #18 Steam Locomotive into revenue service

[fortna2010]

It was moved to Yreka, not Eureka. Yreka is pronounced "WHY-re-ka" And I remember seeing the engine left outside behind the engines' shed when I was a kid. It was brown and rusty and needed big time repairs. It's twin, YWRR # 19 is in the shop right now getting boiler repairs. I will be posting a video updating the twin soon.

[Rockinrailroader765]

Any idea of whats the plans for the wooden passenger cars by the shop?

[pennyf9]

what do you mean it was abused by the Sierra Railroad?

[CGiordano464]

after running miniture and being around alot of full size steam locomotives, I can tell you that maintence on these things is a bitch! People dont relize either that things may be broken on the loco and not working perfectly but, I;ve been taught that you dont take it apart or fix something unless it wont move haha

[HUTCHtopher]

So when are we going to see more video of Mc Cloud 18?

[virginiatruckee]

There is already a winner on the video contest, who correctly identified Marc Faber near the end of the video.

Sorry.

[SantaFe5central]

is the V&T going to keep McCloud#18's colors

[virginiatruckee]

@SantaFe5central Good question, they repainted it to look the way you see it. I don't know what the original colors were, I assume you mean the pattern of black and silver. I almost think the front of McCloud #18 was black when it came back, and they painted it silver. I'd have to dig out older photos.

[virginiatruckee]

It's interesting to note that others (not me) claimed to be experts and said #18 wouldn't run on the rebuilt tracks. Chief naysayers were former SLE guy "Train Man" Jim Clark and former V&T Engineer (and former Storey County Commssioners) Chuck Haynes. I have related their concerns in the past and made it clear it was not my opinion, as I am no steam expert.

I have yet to see these two eat their hats.

[imagreatbigman]

when did they make this railway longer? is the 29 still running? and is the 29 going to run on the longer trips?

[virginiatruckee]

@imagreatbigman The began to extend the tracks several years ago, and in the last three years built through American Flat down to the eastern edge of Carson City. That was finished in early 2009. #29 is probably not going to see much service for the rest of the season -- after the derailment a couple months ago, the front trucks are repaired, but the link between the engine and tender (tender pocket) still needs work. 29 has done the long run, but can't easily haul 3 coaches like McCloud #18 can

[HUTCHtopher]

The 18 has never ran on such good track LOL

[virginiatruckee]

@HUTCHtopher Yeah, they overbuilt it, but hey, it's only (taxpayer) money! A project consultant tried to tell them they didn't have to use such heavy rail, he said, "it's entertainment, not interstate commerce" Maybe they think someday the freight service will return - ha!

[HUTCHtopher]

I sure the damage caused by Chris Hart's Sierra RR also added to the delay of getting her' in serviced'.

[sp4294]

To fill in the 18 history on the Yreka Western for you. It was purchased from the McCloud River in 1957 to assist her sister locomotive No.19 with the freight duties. It blew a cylinder head in 1964 while on an excursion double heading with the 19. The shop crew at Yreka didn't have the expertise to fix it, so the engine sat in the yard until it was sold in 1998 and the McCloud Railway purchased it and restored it.

[virginiatruckee]

@sp4294 Thanks for the info, I appreciate your clearing that up.

[HUTCHtopher]

Nice to see she has still retained her spark arrestor

[renorailfan]

@HUTCHtopher Yeah, they didn't put it on until past Gold Hill. I missed the shot of them placing it on the locomotive with a backhoe, I didn't realize what was going on right in front of me, and I wanted to get up by the depot to get the runby at the F Street crossing. Later when I realized I missed the shot I kicked myself.

There was some discussion of this spark arrestor on groups.yahoo.com/group/virgini­aandtruckee1976, a V&T employee said the grates are too big and oil doesn't create sparks.

[CoastStarlight11]

Very nice stuff.

BTW: I got an alert thing from youtube stating that the uploaded limit has been extended to 2 GB and 15 minutes. I have not tried it yet to see if it works but it said the upload limit has been expanded from 10 minutes to 15 minutes.

[virginiatruckee]

@CoastStarlight11 Too bad most people only watch the first two minutes of most videos ;>)

[CoastStarlight11]

@virginiatruckee LOL! Very true!

[SilentVillainPro]

Another little tid bit that a lot of people don't know is that when it was being transported to the V&T it went through Amador County. It was going through Martel and the stack ended up catching a power and telephone line right in front of a CAL FIRE station closing Hwy. 49 for 2-3 hours.

[renorailfan]

@SilentVillainPro Wow, that's amazing, I had not heard this, thanks for the info. Was there a story in the local media that I can find on the Internet? Any photos?

[SilentVillainPro]

@renorailfan The only reference thing that I can find is a blurb in an article about it. It said that it happened on the evening of Monday July 27th 2009. And please let me correct myself. The stack caught the lines and damaged them causing them to sag. The next morning a truck and trailer went through there and the lines caught on the truck causing the road to be shut down for 2-3 hours. If they had the engine before that then it is not the 18.

[SilentVillainPro]

I just want to clarify something that a lot of people seem to confuse. The Sierra Railroad leased the #18 not Railtown 1897 State Historic Park as the Sierra Railway.  Some people seem to get confused and blame Railtown for lack of maintenance.

[renorailfan]

@SilentVillainPro Yeah, it's too bad that in a couple cases (at least), we have two rail operations using nearly the same name. Sierra Railroad is the company that leased #18 and let it slide further, while Sierra Railway is a pretty cool Youtube user and also the name of the Jamestown operation.

We get the same thing up here, with the (real) private V&T Railroad, and the Nevada Commission for the Reconstruction of the V&T Railway. There was a trademark fight about this for years, now settled.

[Miserlou57]

hey GREAT vid! it had ALL the good info i've been wanting to know. any idea exactly how the Sierra got replaced? I'd imagine they had a contract.

[virginiatruckee]

@Miserlou57 Actually, no one really had a contract, except the V&T Railroad -- sort of. I'm sure there's some behind the scenes stuff I don't know about, but since 1996 the V&T had some kind of written deal with the Commission. Then in 2005-2006 they "officially" chose Sierra, voted to write up the deal -- and then never did. I can't tell you how many times the government commission says they're going to do something at a future meeting and then never follows up. To be continued in more comments

[virginiatruckee]

@virginiatruckee Sierra had written up a "business plan" showing they would make money once the tracks were completed all the way through the canyon. That plan is posted on renorailfans. In late 2008 Sierra created a Nevada corporation and tried to get the MOU transferred to the asset-less NV corp. The commission voted yes but then it never happened. Once it was time to run trains, the Gray's V and T were the only choice. Sierra's Chris Hart still occasionally shows up at meetings.

[virginiatruckee]

@virginiatruckee renorailfans . com is a website with lots of info. I don't know why sometimes Youtube lets me post an URL in a comment, other times not. But never with the html extension in the front.

[virginiatruckee]

We already have a winner who identified Marc Faber in the contest at 9:45

[virginiatruckee]

OOOPPPPSSSS! I should have said #18 spent decades in YREKA at the YREKA Western, not Eureka, which is 150 miles away on the coast. YREKA is on the I-5 corridor in way-north California.

Sorry. Part II of this video will be posted in the morning, with a tail end where Tom Gray talks about the D2 diesel.

[SierraRailway]

what is that part that fell off the locomotive's rods at 8:41?!?!?! hope its not important!

[virginiatruckee]

@SierraRailway That was a hammer, Norm (Mr. Nevada!) picked it up and handed it to the speeder.

[virginiatruckee]

Maybe if I make this comment enough times someone will notice -- NOT!! I wish they would wait for full processing before making videos viewable, you'll get much better video if you wait until the green band at the top of the screen goes away. This video should be available in resolutions up to 1080.

If your name is Don it's OK, go ahead and watch!

[railfan101]

@virginiatruckee I always wait until the video is always processed. Anyway, awesome video of #18! I like hearing the train more often, but I always like the informal narrating! Thumbs up!

[virginiatruckee]

@railfan101 Thanks, yeah, I wanted to try a video with a lot of narration, and there's quite a story behind this locomotive being here. Part 2 will have the actual runbys where the sound will be better.

Because I had to get back to Reno, I wasn't able to catch it on the way uphill. That will really sound good. On August 6 I'll be riding with the group from the Hot August Nights Virginia City private passenger car tour. I'll at least get some shots on the train. For more info see vcrail.com