The V&T's 21st steam locomotive was named for John William Bowker, revered V&T innovator and master mechanic."

Baldwin built Bowker in 1885 with a powerful Knowles steam water pump atop its boiler for firefighting purposes. The similarly equipped V&T # 9, I. E. James, handled switching duties at Carson City. The J. W. Bowker was the switch engine in the V&T yards at Virginia City.

With the eventual decline in V&T business, # 21 was sold in 1896 to the Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Company near Truckee, California. Cecil B. DeMille used the engine in his 1939 epic motion picture Union Pacific—more people have probably seen this engine in operation on the "silver screen" than in person.

(Source: NV State RR Museum)