Virginia & Truckee Passenger-Smoker-Baggage car No. 20 was purchased in 1907. No. 20 was built by the Hicks Locomotive & Car Works of Chicago. It was the last passenger car the V&T purchased new. V&T No. 20 is among nine surviving Hicks passenger cars in existence. V&T General Manager H. M. Yerington purchased the car $5,900. The car arrived on the V&T on December 18, 1907.

The 60-foot combine had three sections: a 28-foot-long coach section that could hold 28 passengers; a 16-foot-long smoking section that could hold 16 passengers; and a 15-foot-long baggage section. The interior was outfitted with beautiful natural-finished quarter sawn oak with leaded green glass above the side windows. The clerestory and lower roof sections featured green veneer with gold trim. The coach section included high-back reversible red plush seats while the smoking section had low-back reversible black leather seats. In addition, No. 20 had an open platform with steel platform sills and Tower automatic couplers. It was painted in V&T yellow with brown trim and gold lettering. At 67,000 lbs., it was the heaviest passenger car in service on the V&T.

No. 20 was used in a variety of services. Initially, the combine was used in excursion service. On December 30, 1910, it was placed in regular service on mixed trains 3 and 4 operating between Reno and Virginia City. During the 1920s, No. 20 was used on the mixed trains operating between Reno, Carson City, and Minden. In September 1937, the smoking section and men’s water closet were removed to create a 31-foot-long section for the Railway Express Agency. It operated on trains 1 and 2 from Reno to Minden from 1938 to 1946. No. 20 was last used on the V&T for a Reno Lion’s Club Special on August 2, 1947. Shortly thereafter, No. 20 was sold to Loew’s Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $2,350.

During it’s time with M-G-M, No. 20 appeared in films such as Cimarron, The Man Who Shot Liberty Vance, Cattle King, and others. M-G-M auctioned No. 20 to John D. Bentley of Pasadena, California, on May 14, 1970. No. 20 was later stored at and donated to Orange Empire Railway Museum (now Southern California Railway Museum) in 1990.

The Friends of the Nevada State Railroad Museum purchased No. 20 from the Southern California Railway Museum on December 10, 2024. No. 20 arrived at the Nevada State Railroad Museum on December 12, 2024.

TEXT BY ADAM MICHALSKI