From our draft preservation study....
The locomotive was built for the Florence & Cripple Creek Railroad in March 1896 by Baldwin Locomotive Works as No 10, Independence, Baldwin Class 10-26E-250, c/n 14771,
2-8-0, 16x20, 38” drivers, 72,000 lbs (as built) at a cost of $8,749.61.
In April 1915, the locomotive was transferred to the associated Cripple Creek & Colorado Springs Railroad after the F&CC mainline in Phantom Canyon was destroyed by a flash flood. On the CC&CS the locomotive was numbered 36.
The locomotive was sold to Uintah Raillway in August 1917 becoming that railroad’s number 12. The Uintah replaced the boiler in 1924 (Baldwin “extra order” No 5209), just two years before they purchased the first of two 2-6-6-2t locomotives which would change the way the railroad operated. The Uintah railroad was split in two by Baxter Pass. That pass had grades 7.5 percent with curves of up to 66 degrees. As a result the railroad was originally effectively operated as three divisions, with 2-8-0 and 2-8-2 locomotives being used between the connection with the D&RGW at Mack and the shops at Atchee, at the bottom of the pass, with shay locomotives on the pass, and with the rod engines again on the upper end of the line. Passenger trains were handled with pair of 0-6-2t’s over the entire route.
The 2-6-6-2t locomotives were able to work the entire railroad, replacing most of the rod locomotives and the shays. It is likely that No 12 was rarely used after the arrival of the second articulated in 1928.
Sold to the Eureka Nevada Railway in December 1937 for $3,500.00, (plus freight) becoming that railroads No 12 (2nd). It had been purchased in anticipation of new freight traffic which never occurred. The engine is known to have made two trips over the railroad. On the first it spread the rails and derailed 3 times, the 2nd trip was no less exciting. Apparently, the locomotive’s new boiler increased her weight by 8,000 lbs. As a result, the railroad’s existing locomotives were used in place of the new locomotive. Since the locomotive was not in use, it was never re-lettered.
Three months after the locomotive arrived, the Eureka Corporation, the railroad’s largest shipper announced that they were suspending work. The Railroad’s board of directors met and filed for abandonment with the ICC and Nevada PUC on April 8th, one day shy of 4 months after the locomotive’s arrival. The last train ran on July 2nd 1938, pulled by locomotive No 10.
Having just invested nearly $4,500 to acquire and move the locomotive, John Sexton, the railroad’s General Manager excluded it from the sale of scrapable assets when the E-N Railway was abandoned, instead choosing to try to find a buyer. No buyer was found, although the Nevada County Narrow Gauge did inspect the locomotive.
Instead it was “acquired” by Robert “Doby Doc” Caudill in 1946/47 without permission in the dead of night. John Sexton’s nephew, also named John the newly appointed district attorney, found the locomotive sill on Doby Doc’s trailer in his Elko compound. After what is described as a heated negotiation, Caudill purchased the locomotive. He would display it at the Last Frontier Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas strip with his large collection of Nevada artifacts.
Sold to the Gold Strike Casino near Hoover Dam in 1962, where it was displayed with three E-N passenger cars as the “Gold Strike Express, No 7-11” (receiving a front number plate marked “7” which it wears today. It was never operated as No 7. The locomotive and train were moved to the Clark County Museum in Henderson when the casino added a new hotel tower. Eventually the locomotive and three passenger cars were donated to the Nevada State Railroad Museum, Boulder City.
Randy Hees
Director, Nevada State Railroad Museum, Boulder City, retired
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