Virginia and Truckee Railroad Locomotive #1 "The Lyon" - Great Western Steam Up

Over the last 40 years there have been many steam locomotives restored, but also several recreated. Virginia and Truckee #1, "the Lyon" is one of the locomotives being brought back from the dead.

For 40 years Stan Gentry of Clear Lake, Iowa, has been building a full-sized replica of the Lyon with the plan that it would be given to the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City.

The locomotive was being assembled in the shops of the Mason City & Clear Lake Electric Railroad Historical Society, Inc where Gentry is president. The components of the locomotive were being built by dozens of suppliers and volunteers.

The “Lyon” and its sister engine the "Ormsby" were the first two locomotives constructed for the Virginia & Truckee Railroad in 1869 – V&T No. 1 and No. 2 by H. J. Booth Locomotive - Union Iron Works in San Francisco. The locomotives were built using inferior pre-1869 technology and never performed well. Moreover the iron found on the west coast at the time was of very poor quality. It was brought in by ship from the Great Lakes after sailing all the way around South America. They were delivered by ox-team in pieces by wagon to Carson City and assembled near the site of the V and T shops which were under construction. Whatever the problems, these Booth locomotives were never up to the job at hand.

By 1879 they were totally obsolete and the newer and more powerful V&T locomotives were the only locomotives being used, and the first locomotives were left rusting outside the shops in Carson City before being scrapped by the late 1890s.

NOW, all that said, the locomotives were (and are) fascinating as examples of locomotives that time traveled from 1840 or so to the Virginia and Truckee railroad in 1869.

Enter Stan Gentry. And his massive "screwing around" plan to recreate the Lyon in the traction shops in Clear Lake. 40 years later he donated the locomotive to the Nevada State Railroad Museum who are finishing the project with donated funds and time.

We also take a look at the wonderful 1/2" scale models of the Virginia and Truckee by George Richardson who built these metal models in the 1960's