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V&T No. 21 J.W. Bowker The Starlet Workhorse

The J.W. Bowker was the first engine of its class (2-4-0) build to Virgina & Truckee Railroad specifications by Baldwin Locomotive Works. It is also one of the oldest locomotives in the Museum's collection. Not only a reliable workhorse for the Virginia & Truckee Railroad, it was also gained some fame on the silver screen.

The Bowker on the streets of San Francisco.

Baldwin Locomotive Works built No. 21 and delivered it to the Virginia & Truckee Railroad in 1875. It mainly served 20 years as a switch engine in the Virginia City yards and was later sold to the Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Company of Hobart Mills, California in 1896.

A switch engine is a locomotive which is tasked with "building" trains in the railyard before they depart. They load up the leading engine with a "train" of rail cars!

No. 21 under the canopy of the Sacramento Shops

Fun fact! This engine is our resident movie star! The Bowker appears in the films Union Pacific (1939) alongside John Wayne, Rock Island Trail (1950). The Bowker starred as the Jupiter in Wild Wild West with Will Smith in 1999.

The crew of the Bowker in a San Francisco yard.
J.W. Bowker was one of the first locomotives restored by the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society (PCC). In 1969, PCC donated the Bowker, and many other locomotives that make up our core collection, to The California State Railroad Museum.
Locomotive Stats:
  • Builder - Baldwin Locomotive Works Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Year Built: February 1875
  • Type: 2-4-0
  • Drivers: 48 1/4 inches
  • Gauge: 4 feet 8 1/2 inches
  • Boiler Pressure: 120 lbs
  • Cylinders: 14 inch diameter x 22 inch stroke
  • Fuel: Wood
  • Weight: 65,000 lbs
  • Length: 49 feet
  • Tractive Force: 9,970 lbs
A collection of photos of No. 21 J.W. Bowker from our library.