Nevada's Virginia & Truckee Railroad

By Stephen E. Drew

The Virginia & Truckee is the most famous short line railroad in American history. Brainchild of William Sharon and the Bank of California, the V&T hauled the silver and gold ore, the cordwood, and the mining timbers that made the 1870s “Big Bonanza” a reality. From the state capital at Carson City, V&T rails stretched 66 miles to Virginia City, Reno, and Minden, Nevada. Serving the transportation needs of the Comstock’s nearly 40,000 inhabitants, the V&T remained in operation until 1950. The enormously successful railroad paid its early owners handsome dividends. The V&T’s ornate locomotives and cars have starred in hundreds of Hollywood productions and are now preserved in US museums. Since 1976, fourteen miles of the railroad have been restored to operation. The Virginia & Truckee has become an enduring legend.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Mar 31, 2014
• ISBN: 9781439644935

Stephen E. Drew

Stephen E. Drew has been researching railroads of the Comstock and Lake Tahoe region for 45 years. He recently retired after 35 years as chief curator of the California State Railroad Museum. He is the author of Nevada's Virginia & Truckee Railroad in Arcadia's Images of Rail series. His images are drawn from obscure archives and prized family photo albums.

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INTRODUCTION

The Virginia & Truckee Railroad has been described as the most famous short-line railroad in America. Authors have calculated that the V&T hauled enough gold and silver ore to equal the weight of all its locomotives, cars, and rails combined. It has been called the richest short-line railroad in America, the Bonanza railroad, the Silver short line, and the Queen of the Comstock. More people have probably seen V&T locomotives and cars in 75 years on Hollywood’s silver screen than have ever actually viewed the V&T in real life. It was a magical railroad that survived for 80 years. Now, decades later, its artifacts are preserved and interpreted at major museums, and more than 14 miles of the right-of-way have been returned to operation.

Backers of the Bank of California incorporated the Virginia & Truckee Railroad in 1868. The railroad was built for a purpose: to haul Comstock ore to the reduction mills and to bring the products of remote forests back up the mountain. Interchange with the Central Pacific Railroad at Reno gave Virginia City a connection with the outside world. The standard-gauge railroad was up and running for the Big Bonanza of the 1870s. The year 1876 turned out to be the busiest in the V&T’s history with 50 trains a day. The railroad carried many of the new Comstock millionaires out of Virginia City for San Francisco, where their wealth built palatial mansions. The V&T carried the rich and famous, from four US presidents to nobility to the stars of the theater. The railroad carried in the finest food, wines, clothes, furniture, and household goods desired by the burgeoning Comstock communities. Aided by the V&T, culture and refinement blossomed for the nearly 40,000 inhabitants on the remote side of Mount Davidson.

The story of early Nevada is tied to the mineral discoveries within the state and the fluctuating prices of precious metals. With every boom there was an inevitable bust. But hope springs eternal, and many old-timers were never deterred from continuing to invest and speculate in the next possible bonanza. After the last boom in the 1870s, a slow decline fell upon the Comstock and the V&T. The principals of the railroad diversified throughout western Nevada and eastern California in search of the next mineral Golconda. The railroad’s massive shops in Carson City kept busy with orders for supplies and parts from hundreds of miles around.

The next big strike came in southern Nevada with the turn-of-the-century Tonopah boom. The V&T flourished for five more years. Profits were reinvested in an extension to Minden, new equipment, steel rails, and infrastructure. New federally required safety improvements mandated gradual upgrades in equipment and regulations on boiler inspections and upkeep. Labor expenses began to exceed fuel costs, and the V&T looked to a two-man motorcar as an economical alternative to a steam train and full crew.

After World War I, increasing automobiles, trucks, and the development of the interstate highway system dealt a blow to America’s railroads, including the V&T. The 1920s completion of the first concrete highway between Reno and Carson City ushered in decades of red-ink operations on the V&T. The railroad lost its virtual monopoly on transporting freight and passengers. Now there were alternative means of transportation.

In the 1930s, the V&T was still operating with largely an antiquated fleet of 19th-century steam locomotives and wooden cars. The road’s lightweight rails and sagging tunnels placed limitations on larger, modern cars and heavier loads. In 1937, Hollywood motion picture producers discovered that the V&T was a rolling museum of finely maintained locomotives and cars. They began buying dozens of engines and cars for use in scores of feature Western movies. The proud V&T managed to hang on.

But the day-to-day cash flow dried up in 1938. The railroad filed for voluntary federal receivership protection and for permission to abandon the original 21-mile single-track main line between Virginia City and Carson City. One by one, the shop departments were closed as the senior employees retired or died.

The V&T kept operating through World War II and the brief upsurge in business that followed. Ironically, the main freight commodity became petroleum products, which had started the demise of the railway in the 1920s. Sales of more old locomotives and cars ensued as a means of raising additional working capital. The US Railway Mail Service forced the purchase of a couple of steel-reinforced mail cars. The V&T tried one last larger locomotive, but business did not pick up.

An independent study commissioned by the railroad in 1948 recommended upgrade of the railroad at a minimum cost of $2.2 million and purchase of two diesel-electric locomotives at a cost of $70,000 each. The money simply was not there. Public hearings ensued during 1949 as residents of western Nevada awakened and realized that they were losing a statewide treasure. But no additional freight or passenger traffic materialized. May 31, 1950, was set for the last day of scheduled operations, and the V&T closed its doors for good.

Hindsight often offers a broader perspective. Had the V&T been able to hang on for a few more years, would the rise in Nevada tourism have kept it alive? It is a fascinating question. As soon as the rails were scrapped, there was talk in public and private sectors about possibly rebuilding portions of the line and in preserving vestiges of the old locomotives, rolling stock, other artifacts, structures, and corporate records. The resale of old V&T locomotives was front-page news in Nevada beginning in 1968. V&T engines like the Tahoe and the Reno were being sold, but they were not coming back to Nevada.

In the early 1970s, the Nevada legislature began setting aside funds specifically earmarked to purchase authentic V&T locomotives and cars. All of a sudden, there was a market in Nevada for the remaining artifacts of the V&T.

Here is the fascinating story of the people, places, and events that led to the birth, boom, gradual decline, and rebirth of the most famous Bonanza short-line railroad—Nevada’s Virginia & Truckee Railroad.

One

IN THE BEGINNING

Ten years after the California Gold Rush of 1849, miners discovered blue stuff on the Comstock Lode. It turned out to be silver! It was not accessible by simple panning but required hard rock, underground mining with significant corporate investment, quartz reduction mills, and