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Show The Day She Left The Shops J -Grahame Hardy Collection Brave and glistening and fresh from the shops of her builders, Virginia & Truckee R.R.'s yard engine 'J. W. Bowker' was thus photographed in 1875 at the Baldwin works in Philadelphia before crossing the nation to be delivered to her owners. Designated on the V. & T. roster as No. 21, the locomotive was named after one of the line's engineers who was so overwhelmed by the honor that he went on a monumental binge that regrettably resulted in his suspension. She was sold in 1896 to the Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company near Truckee, then in 1937 was acquired by the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society and presently is stored in Oakland pending her installation in a rail museum the Society is building. She is still in perfect working order and has appeared in many motion pictures as well as in the 1939 New York World's Fair's spectacle called Railroads on Parade. |