Taken from the Nevada Appeal, from one of the V&T lists:

More rail for V&T Railway project to arrive next week


Material worth about $18,000, contractor says

Becky Bosshart
Appeal Staff Writer, bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com

May 9, 2006

The Virginia & Truckee Railway will receive its first delivery of
light rail next week, a project contractor said Monday. It is the
type of rail that engineers prefer for the reconstruction of the
tourist railroad from Gold Hill to Carson City.

Joe Hattrup, owner of the Griffin Group, said that the 90-pound rail
will be put into storage at American Flat for the next phase of
construction.

A 132-pound rail track was laid from the Gold Hill Depot to American
Flat for the first mile-long phase of the project. This rail was
donated to the project by Reno retrack about two years ago. Hattrup
made a deal with the state commission in charge of the project to
sort the used rail and salvage it to purchase one mile of lighter
rail.

The project needs another 15 miles of rail to make it into Carson
City.

The light rail is about 20 years old and comes from the Tracy
(Calif.) Depot. It was last used by the Department of Defense to
distribute munitions, Hattrup said. He estimated that the third of a
mile of track is worth about $18,000.

Project engineer Ken Dorr has said the heavier rail is not necessary
for the tourist railroad. It's also difficult to bend into place to
match the tight curves of the historic V&T right-of-way.

The group is working to secure another mile of 90-pound rail from a
Bay area source.

"Any time you can take something that's not being used for anything
and give it a new life, that's a good thing," Hattrup said.

If Hattrup is able to supply more light rail suitable for the V&T,
he will be compensated by the commission, Dorr said. The pay rate
has not been determined.

"The rail that we want to use is 90-pound rail," the engineer
said. "It's called class-one rail. In other words, it's practically
going to be brand new. It's not going to be worn out."

He'll inspect it next week, and if it's not up to
expectations, "it's going to go away."

Of the $20 million to $25 million needed to built the project into
Carson City, about $9.5 million is needed just for track
construction, which is the most costly aspect of the railway. If the
commission acquires the rail in advance, that could save it up to
$1.2 million, Dorr said. The entire railway, which should be
operating by 2010, is expected to cost up to $40 million.