Virginia & Truckee No. 21 J.W. Bowker

J.W. Bowker (fomerly Mexico) is a 2-4-0 tender steam locomotive.
== History ==
Virginia & Truckee No.21 named, J.W. Bowker is a 2-4-0 steam locomotive, built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in February 1875 for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad and named after Virginia & Truckee's master/chief mechanic John William Bowker. However, in 1876, John Bowker was fired for drunken, disorderly conduct. Four months after the engine arrived, it was renamed Mexico, so as not to give the railroad a bad reputation.https://www.californiarailroad.museum/assets/downloads/CSRM-Public-Roster-September-10-2020.pdfhttps://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive.cfm?Display=192http://trains.nute.ws/2-4-0/V&T21.htmhttps://www.american-rails.com/vt.htmlhttp://www.virginiaandtruckee.com/locomotive/no21.htmhttp://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locopicture.aspx?id=57634
The locomotive was assigned as a switcher in Virginia City and around the Comstock Mines. In 1896, the engine was sold to the Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company in Truckee, California, and renumbered No.3. In 1917, the locomotive was retired and stored in the Hobart Mills engine house for twenty years. It was donated in July 1937 to the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Inc. who restored No.3 to her original identity as V&T No.21.
Between 1939 and 1940, the engine was present at the New York World Fair. It last operated in 1953, when it was retired and presented to the California State Railroad Museum some time later. There the J. W. Bowker has been on display since 1976. As of Today, No.21 was on static display at the California State Railroad Museum, and has been restored to it's 1880s - 1890s cosmetic appearance. And now it and Virginia and Truckee 12 Genoa are on temporary loan to the Nevada State Railroad Museum. 
==Trivia==
*It is one out of two sole surviving Baldwin 2-4-0’s in existence. The other is Old Sydney Collieries No.25, currently located in Delson, Quebec, Canada.
*On May 10, 2017, the 148th Anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, and to help celebrate the occasion, the city of Sacramento, Union Pacific, and the California State Railroad Museum held an event. The locomotive come out in the sun, with a compressed air supply hooked up to blow the whistle and ring the bell.
*The locomotive had a starring role in one episode of the "Casey Jones" TV series with Alan Hale Jr., as an obsolete locomotive that Casey is ordered to deliberately wreck as part of a plan to catch a dangerous gang of outlaws (Season 1, Episode 18: "The Marauders" 9/21/1958). The episode featured night footage of the Bowker under steam, but it is unknown if this was stock footage from a previous filmed appearance or the engine was actually operated for the episode.
*The locomotive was featured in many films such as "Union Pacific" (1939), "Rock Island Trail" (1950), and "Wild Wild West" (1999) as the Jupiter.
== Bibliography ==
==See also==
*Gallery
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Switcher locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:Four-coupled locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:Baldwin locomotives
Category:V&T locomotives
Category:2-4-0 steam locomotives
Category:2-4-0 locomotives
Category:Locomotives featured in media
Category:Built in 1875
Category:Locomotives
Category:Preserved locomotives
Category:CSRM locomotives
Category:Restored locomotives