The Nevada State Railroad Museum is dedicated to preserving the railroad heritage of Nevada. Opened in 1980, it features the locomotives and cars of the famous Virginia & Truckee Railroad and other Nevada railroads. Additional artifacts from many other railroads in the region have also been acquired for preservation and display. The Museum has an ongoing research and restoration program with a high standard of historical accuracy.

Among 65 locomotives and cars in the collection, the Museum has over 40 pieces of equipment built before 1900, and 31 pieces that operated on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. The Museum collection includes the Central Pacific Director's Car that carried Leland Standford and the Golden Spike to Promontory, Utah, in May of 1869 for the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.

The State of Nevada purchased many of these cars and locomotives from Hollywood studios in the 1970s and 1980s, where they were made famous in movies and television shows such as Union Pacific, The Virginian, Wild, Wild West, and Little House on the Prairie. The Museum continues to collect artifacts significant to railroad history in Nevada.

The Nevada State Railroad Museum is located at 2180 South Carson Street (U.S. Highway 395) at Fairview Drive, near the south end of Carson City, and conveniently close to motels and restaurants. The museum is open year-round, 7 days a week from 8:30 to 4:30. Admission is $2; under 18, free.

Photo: The historic Inyo. Built in 1875, it is the oldest operating steam engine in America. It ran between Reno, Virginia City and Carson City.