For a couple of years, I’ve been doing research and writing on the various engines used in the Sutro Tunnel, which drained the Comstock mines in Nevada from 1878 onward.
I’ve also been working on the cars used, and yes, they were mainly rock-haulers. But several unique cars were preserved, and are now housed in “The Way It Was Museum” in Virginia City, NV. I’m out here in the Carson City area for a week, for the V&T conference. So a visit here was in order.
A friend of mine, Rob, a serious Sutro historian, arranged for us (along with his history-buff friend, Pat) to photo and measure five pieces of rolling stock in TWIWM today, and it went great! Huge thanks to Mr. Petrini, the owner of the museum, for letting us do this.
The “timber car,” basically a carry-all which could haul everything from the 12x12 timbers being constantly replaced in the 4-mile tunnel, to candles, ice, and other supplies.
The “crew car,” very similar, but with longitudinal benches and seats & foot-brakes for the driver at each end.
The maintainence car is very odd. You turn the crank to elevate the platform about two feet, and rotate it 90 degrees, enough to stand on boxes on each end to replace a ceiling timber. We were allowed to roll it out to photo it; I’ll have to stitch the pics together somehow. There is mechanism beneath the chassis, perhaps to stabilize the raised frame. We couldn’t really tell, so this is an ongoing puzzle.
I love the “powder car,” which has sprung bumpers, and suspension for its load-bearing platform. We were allowed to take a few artifacts off it to take the shots.
Without question, my favorite piece is the handle-driven velocipede. From other documents I’ve researched, it was used by the tunnel foreman, starting with Jim Bluett. He must have had decent arm muscles, working this thing most days, all along the 4-mile-long tunnel and back, supervising various crews. It was light enough to lift off the track for an opposing rock train.
We were able to photo and measure everything in less than three hours, and then went to lunch. After that I drove down to the Sutro site, and got dimensions of the “signature car” of ths operation, the ore car. This is the later version, but still very old.
