Re: SP NG 18

The line was originally the Carson & Colorado which was built by the owners of the Virgina & Truckee. It was completed in 1883 to extend from Hound House (between Carson City and Virgina City) though Hawthorne, Nevada, over Montgomery Pass into the Owens Valley, ending at Keeler on the shore of Owens Lake (300 miles).

Southern Pacific acquired the line in 1900 just before the discovery of Tonopah. The resulting boom brought the only profit to the line. The road was converted to standard gauge down to Mina and Tonopah Junction. The southern part of the line remained 3' gauge until it was abandoned in sections beginning in the late 1930s.

The last three steam locomotives were originally built for the Nevada-California-Oregon which was acquired by the SP and converted to standard gauge in 1928 era.

Brian Norden