Great set of photos Kevin. All that smoke reminds me of Beebe. Too bad the Virginia City line was gone before Beebe got there.

One nice thing about the reconstructed V&T (and I'm speaking here of the Commission's portion of it below Gold Hill) is that it is generally remote. It's possible for the railroad to run special trains for railfan/photogs, and by dropping them off for run-bys, give then a chance to get images the general public isn't likely to have. That remoteness is perhaps the primary reason there are so few photos of the original V&T line between Mound House and Gold Hill. For that matter, there are only a handful of photos taken in the canyon. The first fan trip wasn't until late 1939. The war soon put an end to those, and by the time the war was over, the original line was gone.

On another note, I think providing a grade-separated crossing of highway 395 was a factor in bypassing Mound House. But the old right of way was a street/road with considerable development, even 20 years ago.

I appreciate that my response here is in the territory of railfan fantasy nonsense, but as much as I'd love to see the V&T reconstruction continue down the canyon, I feel if the commission had the $30M needed to extend the line that it might be better spent on a new Nevada State Railroad Museum facility at Eastgate. Perhaps even move the whole Carson City location there?

NSRM's location near the capitol is nice, but it's definitely cramped, and none of the buildings are particularly special. They are mostly prefab steel buildings if I recall? A new museum facility on the grounds of the airport on US-50 at Eastgate could provide space for a larger indoor display building, and access for occasional operations on the actual V&T. Perhaps NSRM could operate the short run into the canyon, while the commission and the Grays continue to run the line from Eastgate to Virginia City?

Certainly this idea has occurred to someone before me?

When I win the big lotto, I will donate significantly to this idea. I think it would be great if the museum could move out there. I just can't imagine how expensive it would be, if the museum even wanted to do it. The above mentioned issues with the V&T being under the FRA and the museum not, might make some issues.

I feel like the Nevada State Railroad Museum has a lot to offer. A museum display building, a depot, a turntable, and a working locomotive shop plus enough track to run a short train ride. Honestly that's as much as any museum needs.

I do wish that the museum and the expanded V&T could connect somehow and join forces in marketing. Even now I'm not sure if many railfans are aware of how much Carson City has to offer.

My suggestion probably has more to offer the V&T than NSRM, which is why I said it may be a better investment for the commission's money than more track.

That said, NSRM's display building is small, and can only display 4 or so pieces from their amazing collection, I could see expanding it to the west by but that would only get another two or three pieces inside. Thankfully, much of their collection is indoors, but the balance is crammed into the typical tightly-spaced metal building with parallel storage tracks. It's standard for museums to not display everything they have, but the ratio at NSRM could be improved.

Having a historic RR alignment to occasionally operate upon would be a major bonus.

I think you are underestimating what the museum has in Carson City... dual gauge track that allows passenger train rides and demonstration runs of link and pin couplers, a working water tower, depot, turntable, a repair shop capable of restoring and maintaining both standard gauge and narrow gauge equipment, and an indoor 2-track museum. I agree the museum building itself is a bit small.. but it's still more than most railroad museums have.

I don't see how it makes sense to throw all of that away for the possibility of running one of the 3 steam locomotives and the railcars on the longer stretch of track.

On the flip side, I'm not sure what the commission gains operation wise. They already have 2 steam locomotives and rolling stock available to them.

The only gain I see, is the combined marketing. Kind of like how Strasburg works... the railroad, the choo choo barn, and the museum all help to advertise each other.

Maybe I'm a bit biased.. I had such a perfect day when I visited the Nevada State RR Museum last year over July 4th I can't imagine wanting to move it.

C-Z:

I was impressed with the Nevada State Railroad Museum too. I pretty much agree with your opinion of their facilities. I wonder if perhaps the answer would be some kind of joint offerings with the V&T. Visit the museum and get tickets for the train ride. Ride the train and get tickets for the museum. Maybe even a bus ride between the two locations. But perhaps such cooperation is already in place.


Les

I believe the NSRM also benefits greatly from it's current location directly alongside the main North-South route through the area, highway 395. It is a free ad 24/7/365.

I do wonder how the new extension of the modern Freeway #580 past it southwards will impact the drive-by awareness however. Up until recently if you took 580 south to it's end, you hit 395 exactly at the museum entrance!

Now, you miss the NSRM site by about 2 miles....

Yes, the new bypass may really cut into attendance numbers, especially the "casual drive-by" ones. Last winter the site suffered flooding from a mud slide nearby, so maybe a new site isn't such a bad idea. the building could likely be moved, considering their construction-still it would be a MAJOR investment to do so, something that the State might not/probably not be willing to undertake. Long term, I think it could be a very good move; the current location is definitely "boxed in" and it's only a matter of time before there will be NIBYs complaining about the noise & smoke, etc.

I'm back out at Carson City this year to see the Museum's 4th of July Steam show and finally got to take the trip on the V&T. Unfortunately, steam stayed up at Virginia City for the 4th of July Weekend so the Carson City train was diesel. The positive was I still got to ride Steam during the layover in Virginia City and also got to take some photos of the steam train coming and going from the town.

This is a really fantastic railroad. It's one of the most scenic lines I've ever seen. The snow-capped Sierra's in the distance, the old mining towns, wild horses, tunnels, grades, it's literally a railfan's dream railroad. They said #18 was only a month or so away from being running again. I can't wait to return and ride behind steam on the entire trip.

The train feels like a real train, not a tourist train. And I mean that in the best possible way. It was just the locomotive and 3 Pullman build 100+ year coaches with wicker walkover seats.

The 3 coaches were all pretty close to filled. I would say the train was "comfortably sold out" meaning it was about as full as you would want it to be with 3 coaches.

My biggest thought is the two Virginia & Truckee Railroads and the Carson City's Nevada State Railroad Museum have GOT to get together and market together. This is one of the best places to see historic railroading in action. In 2 days time I saw 4 steam locomotives in operation, and next year that would be 5 with the #18 running. It's really worth planning a trip to see this place.

Crescent-Zephyr:

I agree 100% with your assessment of the V&T. The wife and I rode it a number of years ago when number 18 was in service. We rode the front end of the first car back and with the 2-8-2 returning toward Carson City, the Mike was running in reverse, so was RIGHT THERE! Quite an interesting ride to say the least!

At one time, the plan was to renumber 18 into the Virginia & Truckee locomotive roster and letter her for the V&T. That would have put her number somewhere in the low 30's, but that plan may have been changed.

Les

Probably, but they'd have to use a site well away from the airport. Messing with airport sites is not something you want to do-that gets the FAA involved. If even one cent of federal money is tied up in the airport, you can consider any development that will negatively affect the airport dead.

My understanding is the eastgate site is supposed to be temporary, with the line eventually originating at the site of the old V&T Ballooon track further into the canyon (the maps a few posts above show this.)