V&T of course was never narrow gauge..


New V&T rail line is 'worth its weight in gold'


Business expected to gravitate toward the narrow-gauge railway



BY PETER THOMPSON
Appeal Staff Writer
February 5, 2005



At the Carson City station, the people line up to board the newly
restored V&T railroad. Once aboard, the locomotive engine steams up
and the train begins to creep up the track toward Virginia City.
Some people head for the gaming car while others relax in the dinner
car. A group of schoolchildren on a field trip are getting a lesson
on the history of the area. Others just sit back and admire the
unique scenery and moving colors of boomtown Nevada.

For Janice Ayres, president of the Northern Nevada Railway
Foundation and the governor's representative on the Nevada
Commission for the Reconstruction of the V&T Railway, these types of
daydreams cleared a huge hurdle Thursday as bids for the
construction of a section of track over the formidable Overman Pit
began and the vision of a totally reconstructed V&T railroad running
from Carson City to Virginia City moved a few railroad ties closer
to reality.

"The low bid of $3.79 million is much less than any of us had
anticipated," Ayers reported.

While this doesn't mean that the Reno-based Contri Construction firm
who made the bid will get the contract, Ayres is confident of their
record and hopes to see work beginning as early as this summer.

The job involves extending the existing 2.5-mile section of the V&T
that runs from Virginia City to Gold Hill all the way to the
historic American Flat area, once the site of the prosperous
American City, a boomtown with a life cycle that went bust after
just two years.



Ayres Slays Naysayers

Ayres, along with countless volunteers, has been working on getting
the project moving since 1999, despite what she termed a large force
of "naysayers" - critics who said the project stall like a
locomotive with an empty tender.

"A rebuilt V&T would be worth its weight in gold," she said, calling
out its tremendous potential for creating jobs and bolstering the
area's economy.

"It'll be the biggest attraction to hit Northern Nevada," she
said. "It'll be a great stream of revenue.

"There's nothing like it in the state. They can build all those New
Yorks and Mirages they want in Las Vegas, but we have the real
history up here."

After construction, the next big hurdle will be creating rolling
stock.

"We already have $50,000 set aside for to refurbish old railcars
plus we just got an $800,000 grant through the work of Senator Harry
Reid," she said. "We're beginning to see some blue sky on this
thing."

Currently, the stretch of the V&T that runs from Virginia City to
Gold Hill carries approximately 70,000 riders a year.

Based on a "Regional Input-Output Measurement System" calculation
tool developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the estimated
positive economic effect for the railroad would be $34.7 million and
750 jobs from construction and related activity in the first years.

It predicts some 300 jobs and $11.7 million generated annually at
peak ridership of 160,000 people a year, a number that Ayers sees as
conservative.



- Contact reporter Peter Thompson at pthompson@nevadaappeal.com or
881-1215.



On the Net

www.steamtrain.org

Huh? I was under the impression the new V&T was standard gage. Where does NG enter into it?

dave

I think just lack of knowledge by the reporter. This project seems to be less and less historic as it proceeds, being engineered largely as if it were a modern highway. Too bad, as there was a chance for the Virginia city terminal to be rebuilt much like it once was.

"There's nothing like it in the state. They can build all those New
Yorks and Mirages they want in Las Vegas, but we have the real
history up here."

I guess we're just chopped liver. After all we only have the original locomotives, steam crane, passenger cars, depot, shops and we're a National Historic Landmark. I think that's real history.

"A prophet hath no honor in his own country. . . !" Keep up the good work, Mark!

Craig Lacey
Heber Valley Railroad

Amen and thank you.

At the Pullman Library we are always available to copy material back to 1889, whatever we happen to have, both standard and narrow gauge and are happy to be contributing (always at a nominal charge). Best wishes and keep the torch burning. On a similar subject, right now another IRM volunteer and I are restoring 12 1906 diner chairs for the Pullman Palace Car B&M 1094, cafe-coach. At home today I am entering into the database 250 more PPC drawings from the collection to get their lot and plan numbers predating our journal records. Good answers for those cold winter days until it's warm enough for the varnish brush on the walls and meanwhile another step to be of service! I am sure you folks are really laboring and hope all turns out as expected.
Ted Anderson, IRM volunteer & Pullman Library curator
(Wednes at the library 10am-4:30pm 815-923-2020)

I have noticed that the general public in the Western United States tends to think of any steam tourist railroad as narrow gauge, regardless of the actual gauge. The Heber Valley Railroad has on occasion been refered to as narrow gauge by the unknowing public.

I think it has something to do with the significant inflence of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad on the public's preception.

As long as the public continues to purchase tickets so our tourist railrods continue operating, does it really matter what the public thinks the gauge is?

This part of the story, as Mark has noted, is just wrong and is unfair to the other tourist railroads in Nevada.

But reporters are known for sensationalism rather than accuracy.