Glenbrook, The

The significance of the "Glenbrook" lies in the fact that this 106 year old narrow guage steam engine and its California-based sister locomotive, the "Tahoe", (now owned by Universal Pictures in Universal City) are two of the few remnants from the Carson & Tahoe Lumber & Fluming Company. Outside of thousands of acres presently continuing a second growth of trees, only traces of the old railbed, several buildings, a few artifacts and memorabilia are left of this vast timber empire that once supplied enormous quantities of forest products to the mines and mills of the Comstock Lode. The "Glenbrook", a dimunitive iron horse by today's standards, was one of six steam engines utilized by the firm to haul lumber and cordwood supplies from the sawmills at Glenbrook on Lake Tahoe up to the head of a lumber flume. From Spooner Summit, 7,000 plus feet in the Carson Range, the wood was floated down to Carson City at which point it was taken by rail to the Comstock.

Oldest of the Lake Tahoe lumbering operations, its antecedents date back to 1861, the Carson & Tahoe Lumber & Fluming Co. was formed in 1873 by D.0. Mills, H.M. Yerington and D.L. Bliss. They assumed complete control of the local lumbering industry by acquiring various sawmills, lumber interests and fluming enterprises in the mountains between Carson City and Lake Tahoe.

To haul greater loads per trip and do it with greater frequency and economy than by oxen or mule teams, a survey was conducted to run a railroad from the lake shore sawmills at Glenbrook to the terminus of the flume. Meanwhile, two engines, the "Tahoe" and "Glenbrook" were ordered from Baldwin Locomotive Works and construction of the line began on April 19, 1875.

It was a monumental task for the large force of men numbering over 250 to erect 11 trestles, dig a 487 foot tunnel, construct two switchbacks--all within 8.75 miles of track between 6,200 and 7,000 elevation. The grade was 129 feet to the mile and in order to climb the steep and rugged mountain side after winding through a rocky gorge, the narrow guage railroad assumed the shape of the letter "Z", through considerably flattened out and standing at an angle of about 45 degrees. Total cost of the road was estimated at $30,000 per mile.

The "Tahoe" and "Glenbrook" arrived in Carson City in late May of 1875 and together with a number of flat cars, were partially disassembled, loaded on double-teamed logging wagons and hauled up the Clear Creek grade to the company's new shops at Glenbrook.

The road was completed on August 21, 1875 and formal operations, consisting of six daily trips to the summit for each locomotive, began two days later. For the first trainload of lumber, the trip took only 50 minutes. Carrying capacity of the railroad was about 300,000 board feet of lumber a day. As an example of the seasonal output, at the close of 1880 the year's production totaled 20,000,000 feet of lumber and 70,000 cords of wood.

The Glenbrook sawmills continued to be an important factor in the economy of the Lake Tahoe region until the need for timber supplies by the Comstock lessened considerably by the 1880's. These diminishing requirements plus the fact the slopes were nearly logged out by the end of the nineteenth century brought the operations to a conclusion in 1898.

By the end of 1898 members of the Bliss family incorporated the Lake Tahoe Railway & Transportation Co. The new concern acquired the lake vessels, wharves, shop buildings and the old lumber railroad which was dismantled and shipped by barge across to the California side of the lake. Starting at Tahoe City, a new narrow guage line was built northerly to Truckee, 15 miles distant. On May 1, 1900, the road opened for service--not as a lumber hauler--but primarily as a tourist railroad.

Numbered as engine No. 1, the "Tahoe" was later sold in 1900 to the Nevada County Narrow Gauge RR of Grass Valley, Calif. Engine No. 2, the former "Glenbrook" was renumbered as engine No. 1. for the next several decades the 2-6-0 locomotive pulled passenger trains between Truckee and Tahoe City until the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. purchased the Lake Tahoe tourist line in 1925 and standard gauged the track.

The need to keep their old Baldwin-built engines operable, especially the ex"Tahoe", the Nevada County Narrow Gauge RR acquired the "Glenbrook" with the intention of cannibalizing it for parts. Still lettered as LT. Ry. & Co. No. 1, the engine was stored in the Grass Valley railroad yards until 1942 when the NCNG went out of business and its rolling stock was brought by a scrapping outfit, the Dulien Steel Products Co. of Los Angeles.

Wishing to preserve one of the few vestiges of the Carson & Tahoe Lumbing & Fluming Co., Hope Bliss, daughter of founder Duane L. Bliss, and her nephew Will M. Bliss, secured the "Glenbrook" and most of the missing parts from the scrappers. It was loaded on a flat car at Colfax, Calif. and shipped to Carson City, arriving at the Nevada State Museum June 17, 1943.

On September 11, 1943, Miss Bliss donated the logging engine to the State Museum. Soon after a group of historically minded people and ex-railroaders restored the 68 year-old woodburner to as much of her original appearance as possible. Since then the "Glenbrook" has provided tourists and residents with a unique remnant of Nevada's colorful past.