Nevada-California-Oregon Railway Locomotive House and Machine Shop | |
 View from the south-southwest, across 4th Street | |
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| Location | 401 E. 4th Street Reno, Nevada |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 39°31′52″N119°48′32″W / 39.53111°N 119.80889°W Coordinates: 39°31′52″N119°48′32″W / 39.53111°N 119.80889°W |
| Built | 1889 |
| NRHP reference # | 83001120 |
| Added to NRHP | May 9, 1983 |
The Nevada-California-Oregon Railway Locomotive House and Machine Shop was built by the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway in 1889 in Reno, Nevada.
Reno is a city in the U.S. state of Nevada, located in the northwestern part of the state, approximately 22 miles (35 km) from Lake Tahoe. Known as "The Biggest Little City in the World", Reno is known for its casino industry. Reno is the county seat of Washoe County. The city sits in a high desert river valley at the foot of the Sierra Nevada and its downtown area occupies a valley informally known as the Truckee Meadows. The city is named after Union Major General Jesse L. Reno, who was killed in action during the American Civil War at the Battle of South Mountain on Fox's Gap.
The railroad was organized in Reno in June 1880 as the Nevada and Oregon Railroad. It was decided that the best plan was to build north to the Columbia River to serve cattle ranches and farms in northeastern California and eastern Oregon. The company decided to lay narrow-gauge track because it was cheaper than standard gauge construction. It became one of the longest narrow-gauge railroads in the United States. [1]
The Nevada and Oregon Railroad was an American, 3 ft narrow gauge railroad that operated from Reno, Nevada, then northwest to the California state line near present-day Hallelujah Junction before reaching Oneida, California in 1882. A portion of the route is part of today's Union Pacific Railroad branch connecting their Feather River mainline with Reno. The Nevada ande Oregon was incorporated on June 5, 1880, and was headquartered at Reno. It was sold to the Moran Brothers, a group of New York investors, at foreclosure in 1884 and operated unofficially as the Nevada and California Railroad. In 1893 the Moran Brothers sold the railroad and it was reorganized as the Nevada–California–Oregon Railway.
California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 9.7 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second-most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.
Eastern Oregon is the eastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity; thus, the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost counties in the state; in other contexts, it includes the entire area east of the Cascade Range. Cities in the basic 8-county definition include Baker City, Burns, Hermiston, Pendleton, John Day, La Grande, and Ontario. Umatilla County is home to the largest population base in Eastern Oregon; accounting for 74% of the region's population in 2016. Hermiston, located in Umatilla County, is the largest city in the region. Major industries include transportation/warehousing, timber, agriculture, and tourism. The main transportation corridors are I-84, U.S. Route 395, U.S. Route 97, U.S. Route 26, U.S. Route 30, and U.S. Route 20.
The building consists of the original locomotive house/machine shop and an addition. The locomotive house was built in 1889, and the addition was built in the 1940s. The building is one story, rectangular in shape and is built of brick.
The locomotive house was used to store the narrow-gauge steam locomotives. When the railroad built a new roundhouse in the mid-1910s, the locomotive house was converted into a machine shop. [1]
In 1917, the railroad was sold to the Western Pacific Railroad (WP). Because the WP could not use the narrow-gauge terminal facilities such as the roundhouse and machine shop, it either sold them or leased them. The machine shop was leased to the Crane Plumbing Company for use as a warehouse and plumbing supply. The WP built the addition to the existing machine shop in the 1940s. In 1963, the Crane Company left and the WP leased the building to other tenants. In 1973, the WP sold the building. It has remained in private hands ever since. [1]
The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route directly competed with SP's portion of the Overland Route for rail traffic between Salt Lake City/Ogden, Utah, and Oakland, California, for nearly 80 years. In 1983, the Western Pacific was acquired by the Union Pacific Corporation and it was soon merged into their Union Pacific Railroad. The Western Pacific was one of the original operators of the California Zephyr.
American Standard Brands is a North American manufacturer of plumbing fixtures, sold under the American Standard, Crane, Fiat, Sanymetal, and Showerite names, based in Piscataway, New Jersey, United States.
The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places due to its association with the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway and the railroad development in Nevada.
