Virginia & Truckee #22, McKeen Motor Car

This PhotoBlog is about a self-contained Railroad Passenger Car.  It was called a Wind Splitter for obvious reasons.  She was built by McKeen Motor Car Company of Omaha, Nebraska in April of 1910 and was renovated by the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City.  She is a piece of beautiful art as I will show you.

The car was donated to the Nevada State Railroad Museum in early 1996.  The official unveiling of the restored car was May 9, 2010, one hundred years exactly from the date it was delivered to the Virginia & Truckee Railroad.

In renovation of railroad cars/locos you either keep as much of the original material as you can and only replace with today's equivalent what you have too. Or you save what is in perfect or near perfect condition and rebuild the car with as much new material as necessary including making many replica parts. The second method is the case with Nevada State Railroad Museum's McKeen Motor Car.  The interior, for example, is almost all new material and and this PhotoBlog contains several interior shots. I rode and photographed her on October 29, 2011. 

The first three shots are in front of the Museum's Depot between runs of the car.

 
The next seven shots are of the car running past me on the Museum's loop track.

This photo is of the front truck with a flywheel.

Wait 'til you see the interior of the rear end.

Here is a full broadside of the car.  She's 70 feet long.

Peeking into the motorman's window.

And a look at the motorman.

And here is the motorman and conductor looking at you as she comes around the loop another time.

Now for some interior shots.  You'll love the workmanship.

And the inerior of the rear.

 

This is a peek into the cab and engine room up front.

And we come to the end.  I hope you have enjoyed the photo tour of this marvelous Wind Splitter.

_______________

For more information check these pages out:

VT 22 has a webpage at:
http://www.nsrm-friends.org/nsrm44.html

The McKeen Motor Car Company Historical Society has a very active Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/McKeenMotorCar?fref=nf