The Virginia and Truckee Railway Motor Car 22, also known as the McKeen Motor Car 70, is a gasoline-powered railcar resting at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, Nevada. Completed in 1910, it was one of the biggest railcars ever created by the McKeen Motor Car Company, measuring 72 feet 9+3⁄4 inches (22.19 m) in length. Powered by a 200-horsepower (150 kW), gasoline internal combustion engine, it earned the name 'The Dinosaur on Rails' due to its immense size and loud engine.
However, the $297,000 cost was only affordable for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, and it didn't live up to its creators' hopes for a phenomenal success. From 1910 to 1945, it served the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, but financial struggles forced the railroad to park the McKeen car in 1929. After a long, complicated series of jobs, including serving as a railway post office and handling for the Railway Express Agency in 1932, an office and storage space for a plumbing business, and then sitting idle for several years, the remains of the railcar were donated to the Nevada State Railroad Museum in 1995.
Finally, in 1997, the Nevada State Railroad Museum undertook a restoration of the McKeen car, which was completed the same year. The restored motorcar was unveiled in 2010, a century since it was first delivered to the Virginia and Truckee.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Leroy
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