Sierra Railway No. 24

The locomotive that spent most of its life as Sierra Railway No. 24 was originally operated by the Nevada Copper Belt as their No. 3. After these mines had started to work in 1904, they opened a 42-mile rail network to bring a rising quantity of copper ore from the mines at Yerington and Mason to the smelter plant at Thompson in 1909. Delivered by Baldwin in 1912, this locomotive was a oil-burning Consolidation with a service weight of 163,000 pounds. It was not superheated, but had its firebox completely lined with firebrick to utilize more of the heat from the oil.

The Sierra Railway bought this locomotive in 1921, when it was only nine years old. There it was the largest 2-8-0 by a large margin. In 1955 this company, now called Sierra Railroad, made the switch from steam to diesel. But while other steam locomotives were preserved for movie and excursion service, No. 24 was scrapped in the same year. The photo shows it on its way to the scrapyard when all ornaments and the cylinder rods had already been removed.