Submitted by Karl Breckenridge
So here we are together on Humpday for the 38th renewal of our This is Reno visit, to take our minds off R95 face masks and other bellwethers of social isolation for a few minutes, with no bad news ever in our visits.
Someone asked me what I was going to do for a soapbox to write from when all this is over – I responded that I’d probably hit Bob Conrad of This is Reno up for a few column-inches once or twice a week to keep me or Jody Rice in print. Jody is a local gal, a U of Nevada J-school grad and the heir-apparent to a thumb-drive with my columns, thoughts, rants and jpeg photos back to 1999 and print copy about our burg back to 1987 – ya wanna gripe, correct, clarify, enhance or otherwise comment about something you read here, talk to Jody – I’m going off the grid!
But – that’s when we’re back to normal, using that term loosely.
On this Humpday – a term with little meaning right now – we’re kind of betwixt and between a couple columns that are still reverberating around with more comments arriving hourly into my lonely writer’s garret. Rest assured that some of those comments, suggestions, additions and criticisms will be brought to light, about Faded Menus, local schools, the Mighty SP’s “Reserve” in Sparks, and of Whitaker Park and the Bishop Ozi Whitaker School that once graced that park’s site. Soon, soon…
So this morning is kind of a catch-up column, including some thoughts that I promised to come back to and broaden. One among them is of locomotives, specifically the Mallets that used to traverse our village.
I annoyed half the readership – three people – when I wrote that the last “malley” went through Reno and Sparks in 1929, per SP records I dug up at their head-shed at One California Street in San Francisco. “But those cab-forward locomotives were going through Reno well into the 1940s,” one reader wrote.
Two points beckon. Not all cab-forward locomotives were mallets, and not all mallets were cab-forward.
The Mallet process of managing steam in large locomotives was devised by Swiss engineer Anatole Mallet in the 1910s, and put into general use in most, if not all, heavy locomotives in America, including the cab-forwards designed primarily for the snowshed-environment of Donner Summit. Which gained them the nickname “malleys.” (Did you know that air from the locomotives’ air-brake compressor was plumbed into the cabs, to keep smoke from entering on the long pulls in the sheds and tunnels?)
But – the Mallet process, while effective, was not cost-effective nor maintenance-friendly and was soon disposed of, with most railroads rebuilding or replacing their Mallet-process larger engines. Including the SP, who had lots of them with cabs at either end. And the last Mallet-process cab-forward went through Reno in 1929.
And as a matter of information before closing the locomotive book, having now bored most of the readership to death, the last steam locomotive went through Reno in revenue service in October of 1949 (they were around the Sparks yard as “helpers” or pushing the snowplows for five years after that).
Now – you want to take the family on a pleasant trip if ever we travel again, visit the best-kept secret in California – the Sunset Magazine’s one-time campus in Menlo Park, on the San Francisco Peninsula. The magazine’s editorial offices have moved to Jack London Square in Oakland. Given a sale by SP and Lane Publishing to Time-Warner when the Union Pacific merged with the Mighty SP in 1996 the whole landscape has changed – I’ll seek current reliable information and try to pass it on.
Suffice it to say that the Sunset Magazine – named in the 19th century for the SP’s flagship passenger train – was the hallmark of Western lifestyle for a century. I’ll put this on my to-do list of good stuff that needs to be written about.
Let’s gather tomorrow, six feet apart, and we’ll review, debate and augment my latest Faded Menu debacle, er, column, and add a few restaurant names that didn’t get included on Monday. If you commented, your name is likely to be included. And that said, I say to you, be safe, huh?
Submitted opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of This Is Reno. Have something to say? Submit an opinion article or letter to the editor here.
Karl Breckenridge
Karl Breckenridge was slowly going nuts. So he decided to help out This is Reno by writing a daily out-of-his-mind column for the duration of the coronavirus shutdown. Now that it’s over he’s back to his usual antics, drinking coffee with the boys at the Bear and, well, we’re not sure what else. But he loved sharing his daily musings with you, so he’s back, albeit a little less often, to keep on sharing. Karl grew up in the valley and has stories from the area going back to 1945. He’s been writing for 32 years locally.
Read more from Karl Breckenridge
Cheers 4 – the Lear steam bus
The latest news on the Lear Theater has Karl remembering some of the Lear’s other projects, including a steam-powered bus.
Cheers 3 – the groceries II
Karl did not limit his column to ten items or less, so get out of the express line to read this history of Reno grocery markets.
Cheers 2 – the groceries I
Karl got a little distracted this week, starting off with a list of Reno’s great groceries of yesterday then slipping on some ice.
Cheers 1 – Of wine and Little Italy
Karl is back, making us all wonder why we didn’t spend more time during stay-at-home orders pressing grapes into homemade wine.
Day 75 – Karl’s retired to the Bear
From the get-go our pal Karl said he’d write “a short squib on a daily basis – nothing political, nothing controversial,” well, except for that one column.
Day 74 – the Truckee’s picturesque islands (updated)
Karl’s pal Jody shares the rich history of bootlegging, decorating, and engineering within the confines of the Truckee River’s banks and its picturesque islands.
Day 72 – Hobos, tigers and leprechauns
Karl recollects the series of eateries that drew diners to the corner of Virginia Street and Gentry Way for several decades.
Day 70 & 71 – in Flanders Fields
Karl shares a poem by John McCrae to mark Memorial Day.
Day 69 – The Nugget shark: John meets Jaws
Karl was talking about baby shark, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, long before the kids these days had ever been born.
Day 67 – What I like about Reno High
Karl, er, Carmine Ghia, writes an end-of-school-year essay to turn in to Mrs. Lehners about everything he likes about Reno High School.
Day 67 – 25 Bret Harte
Karl saddles up and heads to Newlands Manor where Western movies star Reno Browne grew up, and Lash Larue paid a visit or two.
Day 66 – Out for dinner we go
Karl goes out to eat at the El Tavern Motel, a truck stop outside the Reno city limits on the Lincoln Highway.
Day 65 – Dawn Bunker
Karl is back in action with a fresh story of which students of Mrs. Bunker’s class at Jessie Beck Elementary School still won’t spill the beans.
Day 64 – abducted
Karl Breckenridge called in to This Is Reno editors this morning with a hands-in-the-air, what-can-I-do sense of resignation.
Day 63 – Wedding chapels
Karl’s enjoying coffee with pals at the Bear, so today Jody stands at the altar to share the history of Reno’s wedding chapel industry.
Day 62 – the mansion at 2301 Lakeside Drive
Karl’s 7-year-old alter ego rides his bike down to Virginia Lake to explore the Hancock Mansion, a nifty home complete with a bomb shelter, sunroof and doll collection.
Day 61 – Basque hotels
Karl wanders back in time to 1960, a time when multiple Basque hotels served up minestrone soup, English lessons, banking, and accommodations.
Day 60 – the bygone Greyhound terminal
Karl’s synapses are firing today after hearing mention of Reno’s Greyhound bus terminal on Stevenson Street, now razed.
Day 59 – Don’t tell Mom
Karl rewinds to Mother’s Day to share a story from the archive about Grandpas without a Clue and another ragtop adventure, by reader demand.
Day 58 – School stuff
Karl considers the value of a school name as the WCSD moves to rename one of the area’s older remaining schools and open a new one.
Day 57 – Pedalin’ around Vine Street
Karl rides his bike through history, remembering some of the places and people that helped to build Reno into the city it is today.
