Nevada’s famous McKeen motor car will roll at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City on Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8.
National Train Day is celebrated Saturday, May 7, in honor of the driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory, Utah, that marked completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869.
Operating from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days, the McKeen offers passengers an authentic glimpse of its rich and important past.
Museum staff painstakingly restored the 1910 McKeen motor car. Now a national historic landmark, it’s known as the best surviving example of the early use of internal combustion power in a self-propelled railroad car.
The car came to the State Railroad Museum in 1995 as a donation from the Bernhard family of Carson City, who purchased the car, used it as an office building and recognized its importance.
Using surviving original construction details, drawings and historic photographs, the museum’s railroad restoration staff and volunteers undertook the restoration. They replaced and replicated parts, repainted with original schemes and, after a decade of work, in 2009 the famous piece operated under its own power for the first time since 1945. The museum celebrated the car the following year, 100 years to the day after it arrived in the state capital.
A half-million miles after it came to Carson City, the famous piece had helped the Virginia & Truckee Railway to survive in the 20th Century. By the time it retired following World War II’s end in 1945, the McKeen car had carried thousands of passengers between Reno, Carson City and Minden.
The unique historic resource is a rare operating example of a rail technology that changed the landscape of the American West, endured the Depression, supported the war and helped develop the 20th century American economy.
Today, the famous V&T No. 22 McKeen motor car operates at the museum, 2180 S. Carson St., on special occasions including National Train Day, Independence Day and Nevada Day.
Rides are $8 for ages 12 and up; $4 for ages 4-11; half-price for museum members; and free for children ages 3 and younger.
For more information, contact 775-687-6953, or visit museums.nevadaculture.org.
