The Hacienda Casino, outside Las Vegas, used to have several steam locos outside as advertising. I believe they are all gone now. In particular, there was a tiny mining locomotive immediately out front. I think it was 12" gauge, or perhaps 15". Sweet little saddle tank locomotive. Anybody know where it went? New hotel management knows nothing about it.

It's now in private hands in Northern California and was recently restored and re-gauged from 30" to 36". (See http://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,161599,161599#msg-161599) A true catalog Porter contractor's engine.

Information about the other equipment:

The 3-foot gauge 2-8-0 is now within the compound of the Nevada State Railroad Museum, Boulder City. This is ex-Eureka-Nevada, ex-Uintah, ex-F&CC. Also with it are three passenger car bodies that were once used by the Eureka-Nevada. Two of the bodies are believed to be ex-Colusa & Lake (Colusa, California); the other is ex-Eureka & Palisades.

One of the box car bodies was obtained back in 1992 by the Society for the Preservation of Carter Railroad Resources (SPCRR). This was originally built by Carter Bros in 1874 for the Monterey and Salinas Valley Railroad; in 1881 it went off to the Nevada Central with the rest of the cars and locomotives. It was #253 on that road. The SPCRR group got the car by trading a replica box made out of T-111 that the casino could use for its advertisement lettering.

The Shay and the remaining car bodies went off to someone else some years later. I heard that the person obtaining the Shay did not have a large enough trailer to move the Billmeyer & Small box car from 1881 era (also ex-NC) and so he cut it up into sections to move.

The 0-4-0t is a 1891 Porter 30" gauge built for a Nevada gold mine.

It is currently privately owned, completely rebuilt, now 36" gauge. It will be in operation at the SPCRR Railfair, Labor Day weekend at Ardenwood historic farm in Fremont CA

Thanks, Guys! I always coveted the little locomotive. Glad to see somebody put life back into her.

Here's a photo of her as seen in December of 2009.


/Mitch