The ''Eureka'' is a privately owned gauge steam locomotive based in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. It is one of three preserved

Baldwin Baldwin is a Germanic name, composed of the elements ''bald'' "bold" and ''win'' "friend". People * Baldwin (name) Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, Qu ...

class 8/18 C

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

s in the United States, of which it is the only operable example. It is listed on the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

History

The locomotive was built by

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1875 for the Eureka & Palisade Railroad in Nevada, which was built to transport passengers and goods from the mining town of Eureka to connect with the

Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by Pacific Railroad Acts, U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in N ...

Palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...

. The engine served on this railroad until 1896, when it was sold to the Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company. It operated on the Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber until 1938 when the company dissolved and the engine was sold to a scrap dealer. Warner Bros. bought the engine in 1939, and it was featured in many films, such as ''

Torrid Zone The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

'', ''

Cheyenne Autumn ''Cheyenne Autumn'' is a 1964 American epic Western film starring Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, and Edward G. Robinson. It tells the story of a factual event, the Northern Cheyenne Exodus of 1878–79, told in "Hollywood style ...

'', and '' The Great Train Robbery''. The ''Eureka''s last film appearance was in the 1976 film, '' The Shootist''. In 1978, the

California State Railroad Museum The California State Railroad Museum is a museum in the state park system of California, United States, interpreting the role of the "iron horse" in connecting California to the rest of the nation. It is located in Old Sacramento State Historic ...

was in the process of restoring North Pacific Coast no. 12 ''Sonoma'', another 8/18C class 4-4-0 nearly identical to the ''Eureka''. The museum had the latter stripped down to reveal its original paint scheme, and used it as a guide for restoring the former. The ''Eureka'' was later sold to

Old Vegas Old Vegas was an amusement park at 2440 South Boulder Highway in Henderson, Nevada, located in the Las Vegas Valley. The park's theme was American Old Western, modeled after 1850s Las Vegas. The site included various amusement rides and a replic ...

, an amusement park in

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the second largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with an estimated population of 320,189 in 2019. The city is part of the Las Vegas Vall ...

, where it was placed on display in 1980. In 1985, a fire occurred at Old Vegas, with a burning building collapsing on the ''Eureka'', badly damaging the engine. A year later, the engine was discovered by Las Vegas attorney Dan Markoff, who purchased it and restored it to operating condition with the help of his father. The restored ''Eureka'' debuted at Railfair '91 at the

. It was then operated on U.S. Gypsum's private tracks in

Plaster City, California Plaster City is an unincorporated community in Imperial County in the U.S. state of California. It is located west of El Centro, at an elevation of 105 feet (32 m). United States Gypsum operates a large gypsum quarry and plant there and owns ...

, in 1993. The locomotive was listed as a structure on the National Register of Historic Places on January 12, 1995 and was the first transportation listing in Las Vegas. In 1997, ''Eureka'' was transported to

Chama, New Mexico Chama is a village in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,022 at the 2010 census. The village is located in the Rocky Mountains about south of the Colorado-New Mexico border. Geography Chama is located at (36.8947 ...

, for a series of operational excursions over the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad in late June. The engine continues to make appearances at various narrow gauge tourist railroads during special events, such as the Cumbres and Toltec,

Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, often abbreviated as the D&SNG, is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates on of track between Durango and Silverton, in the U.S. state of Colorado. The railway is a fe ...

, the

Nevada State Railroad Museum The Nevada State Railroad Museum, located in Carson City, Nevada, preserves the railroad heritage of Nevada, including locomotives and cars of the famous Virginia and Truckee Railroad. Much of the museum equipment was obtained from various H ...

, and the

Nevada Southern Railroad Museum The Nevada State Railroad Museum Boulder City is a railroad museum in Boulder City, Nevada which is an agency of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. The railway is located on the tracks that were installed to support constructio ...

among others. When the engine is not participating in such events, it is kept stored in Markoff's specially constructed shed, which is not open to the public. Dan Markoff is rather cautious as to how often the engine operates, and does not intend to have the engine operating regularly as the engine still retains its original boiler and several other components.

References

{{Nevada State Historic Places/Clark Transportation in the Las Vegas Valley 4-4-0 locomotives Individual locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada National Register of Historic Places in Clark County, Nevada Baldwin locomotives 3 ft gauge locomotives Mixed traffic locomotives Preserved steam locomotives of Nevada