Saw this on one of the V&T lists:

Lawmakers fund restoration of historic motor car

The effort to restore the historic McKeen Car, which hauled
passengers on the V&T tracks between Reno and Minden, Nevada, has
been given $70,000 by the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee.

The money was originally appropriated to purchase Locomotive No.
1251, but State Railroad Museum director Peter Barton said they ran
into problems in attempting to buy that locomotive, and it doesn't
appear they will be able to work out a purchase agreement in the
near future.

But he told lawmakers the McKeen Car needs work now. It was donated
to the state with the condition that it be restored by 2001. The
Department of Cultural Affairs has been contacted several times by
the donor's lawyers, reminding the state of that promise, "including
suggestions that the car would have to be returned to the donor if
the conditions are not met." The donor recently advised the state he
won't wait any longer.

"The state has a considerable investment in this car, and allowing
it to revert to the donor would prove to be a substantial loss,"
Barton advised the committee.

The McKeen is a 73-foot long motorized car - effectively a bus on
rails - purchased for $22,000. Powered by a gasoline engine, it
hauled passengers, mail and light freight on the V&T line from June
1910 until it was sold in 1945, covering a total of more than a half-
million miles.

It will be restored as it was originally delivered, with seats for
84 passengers - 24 of them in a special smoking section.

Barton said the McKeen was a precursor of the transition from steam-
to petroleum-powered mass transportation. He described it as the
early 20th century equivalent of the PRIDE buses ,which now carry
passengers between Reno, Carson City and Minden.

McKeen Car No. 70 was recently added to the state historical
register. Barton said the museum has already put more than $40,000
and thousands of man-hours into its restoration.

The $70,000 approved Thursday, he said, "will take us closer to the
finish line, but won't get us all the way there." He estimated
restorers will need another $40,000 to complete the project.

"We're hoping these funds will help us leverage what it's going to
take to get us to the finish line," he said.

The money approved, he said, will probably go into buying a diesel
engine, transmission and other parts to connect power to the wheels.

"That's a total re-engineering effort," he said. "Current life-
safety standards wouldn't allow us to operate it with the public if
it were in original configuration."

Another major project, he said, is painting the car.

He said work will begin in the next month or two and, when
completed, the McKeen Car will carry tours and student groups on
tracks at the railroad museum. Barton said it's much more practical
for that duty than are the museum's steam locomotives.

"You don't have to sit and look at it for four hours to build up a
head of steam. You just start the engine, and in about 10 minutes,
it's ready to go."

The McKeen's permanent home will probably be next to the Inyo, a
steam locomotive of the same design and age as the original V&T
locomotives. - Geoff Dornan, The North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, courtesy
Larry W. Grant

Be interesting to see what they have in mind for an engine and drive train. McKeen cars were really old technology; a gasoline engine directly coupled to one axle of the power truck. I don't believe any original McKeen drive components still exist anywhere, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

My understanding is they plan use of a modern diesel engine. I suspect this will be geared to the power truck somehow, without a traction motor. I have the NSRM detailed restoration plan for the McKeen, but it is vague on how it will be powered. The McKeen engine was pretty early in internal combustion technology. It had to be started in reverse for the car to go backward, hence McKeen's attempt at a switching locomotive was not successful. I think McKeens had an air starter for normal operation, but used a big shotgun shell charge on one cylinder if air pressure was depleted. Building the power truck will probably be the hardest part of the project, as they were totally unique to McKeens and none are known to have survived, just carbodies remain.

Anyone know what's being used from the highly modified ex-CGW McKeen that they purchased from Kettle Moraine to make this one operable? Will anything be saved of the CGW unit? Seems to me that the CGW unit is pretty historic in it's own right.

No, but if the car lasted long enough to be acquired by the Kettle Moraine Ry, then it had been modernized by the CGW. As I recall from photos of the CGW "Bluebird" train, it appears that the power car had been converted to a gas electric drive, similar to the way the UP converted their cars.

Isn't the McvKeen car in Nevada the car that was built into a hardware store in Carson City for years? I saw it back in the seventies, and it was only a body; no trucks or other mechanicals.

Do McKeen drawings still exist? The power trucks look fairly simple from photos; a big channel section riveted to pedestal jaws at two different levels to accommodate two different size wheels. It would be nice if they could at least capture the look. These days, a hydraulic drive might be the best option to actually make it move.

Does anyone know what locomotive they are referring to? The 0-6-0 owned by the V&T and currently in Virginia City was originally SP 1251, but I don't know if that loco and the one referred to in the article are one and the same. Any information would be appreciated.

This 0-6-0 was displayed at Stockton, California between 1957 and 1984. The "new" V&T acquired it for planned conversion to a Mogul, but quit after a brief inspection. It has sat next to the enginehouse at Virginia City for most of that time.

Here is a link to a page on the Navada State RR Museum website that discusses the M-1000 from CGW.

http://www.nsrm-friends.org/nsrm87.html

Wesley

In answer to some questions in this thread:


Yes, it is the same car. As I recall, it was the owners of the hardware store that gave both this carbody and the one of the Nevada Copper Belt Hall-Scott motor car to the NSRM. And it was their requirment that the renovation be completed within a certain amount of time.


As I recall, the trail truck of the ex-CGW car is original and was going to be used for the V&T restoration. Also some other hardware items.