Virginia and Truckee Railroad (Johnsonverse)

The Virginia and Truckee Railroad is a Class III railroad, headquartered in Virginia City, Nevada. The railroad, a subsidiary of Continental Rail, owns and uses the service mark "Queen of the Short Lines". The V&T Railroad runs passenger services from Virginia City to Reno via Carson City, as well as from Carson City to Minden, and a once-daily service from Virginia City to Sacramento via Continental Rail's Sierra Line. The line between Carson City and Reno is officially known as the "Washoe Joint Railway", as this is the eastern end of the Sierra Line.

When first constructed in the 19th century, it was originally built to serve the Comstock Lode mining communities of northwestern Nevada. The railroad's route runs from Reno south to the state capital at Carson City. In Carson City, the mainline splits into two branches. One branch continues south to Minden, while the other branch travels east to Virginia City (before 1932, the section from Carson City to Virginia City was considered part of the mainline). The first section from Virginia City to Carson City was constructed beginning in 1869 to haul ore, lumber and supplies for the Comstock Lode silver mines.

The railroad was acquired by Continental Rail in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression, and is now a subsidiary company, continuing to operate independently, though Continental Rail locomotives still frequent V&T rails, and vice-versa.

In order to ascend the mountain to Virginia City it was necessary to build an enormous trestle. Popular Nevada mythology says Crown Point Trestle was considered to be such a feat of engineering that it is featured on the Nevada State Seal. This myth is mentioned by Lucius Beebe.

Former Nevada State Archivist Guy Rocha debunks this myth on the state's Myth-a-Month page, pointing out that the state seal predates the trestle and shows a viaduct, not a trestle.

Comstock Lode
Gold was discovered in Nevada (then western Utah Territory) in spring 1850, by a company of Mormon emigrants on their way to the California Gold Rush. These early travelers only lingered in Nevada until they could cross the Sierras. By 1858 prospectors were soon permanently camping in the area around what is now Virginia City. In 1859, gold was found in outcroppings in the hills and canyons just outside what is now Virginia City. Among the gold ore in these outcroppings were bluish chunks of silver ore which clogged the rockers. Silver was not recognized in this form, so initially, it was overlooked in favor of the gold, and later found to be quite valuable. This was the first of the silver from what came to be called the Comstock Lode.

Numerous mills appeared along the Carson River from Dayton to Brunswick (toward Eagle Valley (Carson City)) to process the ore from the Comstock Lode. Low interest rates enticed mine and mill owners alike to finance through the bank. Many of these mills and some mines were built with loans from the Bank of California, whose Nevada agent, William Sharon, would foreclose upon the mines or mills when their owners defaulted on payments. The bank gradually came into possession of many important mining and ore-processing facilities. Sharon, along with business partners Darius Ogden Mills and William Ralston, formed the bank-owned Union Mill & Mining Company to process the ore from the mills that had been foreclosed upon.

Initially, the Comstock Lode was a boon for the Virginia City area, as the city grew to over 25,000 inhabitants at its height, and was among the largest and wealthiest towns in the West. However, from the beginning, the costs to transport Comstock ore to the mills from points on the Lode (as well, to return with wood and lumber to supply the mines) became so great that many mines were closed and only the higher quality ores were worth processing in the mines that stayed open. Being in control of mines and mills with his partners, Sharon realized that a cheap form of transportation between the mines, the mills, and the cities would allow the banks holdings to be more profitable.

Early years
There were many propositions starting as early as 1861 for railroads to service the area and decrease costs. Sharon eventually (with the addition of $500,000 in county bonds to move the railroad), envisioned a railroad to run from Virginia City, through Gold Hill where the first of the Comstock Lode was mined, passing the mills along the river, ending at the state capital, Carson City. When finished, this route would cover 21 miles, descend 1,575 feet of elevation and have so many curves as to make 17 full circles in the thirteen and a half miles from the river to Virginia City. Ground was broken on February 18, 1869, two miles below Gold Hill on American Flats when grading crews went to work. There were seven tunnels on the line requiring 2 – 5 months each to hole through and an 85 ft tall, 500 ft long trestle to be built over the Crown Point ravine. The first track and ceremonial first spike was driven on September 28, 1869 by superintendent H. M. Yerington, with the first passenger train pulling into Virginia City on Jan. 29, 1870. The railroad served as a reliable connection for residents of Carson City and Virginia City. By December, 1869 special rail cars were outfitted to bring theater patrons from Carson City to Virginia City for Piper's Opera House presentations.

Named the Lyon, engine No. 1 was one of three 2-6-0's purchased from H.J. Booth by the fledgling railroad, along with engine No. 2, the Ormsby and No. 3, the Storey. The railroad placed orders for five locomotives, three from H.J. Booth and two from Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The first three of the five original locomotives purchased were named after Nevada counties. The last two of the five were built by Baldwin, engine No. 4, the Virginia and engine No. 5, the Carson, named after the respective towns. The Booth and Baldwin locomotives were disassembled at Reno on a Central Pacific siding. The "Lyon", "Ormsby" and "Storey" were hauled to Carson via Washoe Valley and reassembled in the shops. The "Virginia" and "Carson" were hauled up the Geiger Grade from Reno to Virginia City, thus reassembled. They had the distinction of being the first locomotives in Virginia City. The Lyon, with the distinction of being the first locomotive for the V&T RR, was also the engine that pulled the work train, finally arriving in Virginia City on January 28, 1870, completing the initially planned route. The line was opened in its entirety on Jan 29 with regular passenger service starting on Feb 1, 1870

On Nov. 12, 1869 V&T Engine no. 2, an H.J. Booth 2-6-0, pulled the first car of revenue for the company from Carson City to Gold Hill, a flat car loaded with lumber for the Crown Point Company. This milestone was also marked by the opening of the Crown Point Ravine trestle and the first crossing of the work train, engine No. 1 plus four cars, followed closely behind by engine No. 2, plus four cars (1 revenue). It is assumed that from the 12th to the 18th the railroad laid track (spurs) to service the local mines of Gold Hill, for without the track, the railroad could not get cars in to load, although no sources have been found to reference this. On Nov. 18 1869, engine No. 1 hauled the railroads first revenue train of ore from the Yellow Jacket mine. By December 21, regular scheduled trains were running between Gold Hill and Carson City, hauling wood and lumber up the hill and ore back down to the mills.

''The first lot of ore from the Yellow Jacket mine and in fact from the Comstock ledge - yet shipped over the railroad was sent down yesterday to the Yellow Jacket mill on Carson River. There were seven car loads of it, about eight and a half tons to the load, not far from 60 tons. This was from the 700 foot level of the old north mine, and dumped directly into the cars, the railroad passing within a few feet of the shaft. It is low grade ore, assaying $26 or $28 to the ton, and will yield under the stamps not far from $17 per ton. It is ore which heretofore was considered too poor to work and was accordingly used to fill up drifts with. The railroad now affords for the first time a chance to work this low grade ore profitably.'' - Gold Hill Daily News, The first Ore Shipment - Nov 19, 1869.

In the chapter above from the Gold Hill Daily News, it states that low grade ore was valued at $26 – $28.00 to the ton. It also states that (after transportation and milling costs, 'yield under the stamps') the result would be around $17.00 to the ton coming back to the mine. Milling rates were about $7/ton. Based on an average of $27/ton of low grade ore, that left a freight cost of $3/ton. That one ton of ore could pay the wages for 3 experienced underground miners and a carpenter for a day, so the mines could cover their costs selling the low-grade ore to pay expenses, and reap the profits from the high grade. With the coming of the railroad, a reduction in freight rates for lumber by almost half occurred, and the railroad could haul more material by the trainload, so mining activity increased, creating more business for the railroad. Sharon's idea of low cost transportation paid off.

The railroad had cost $1,750,000 to build, not including the cost of rolling stock or buildings. The V&T ran 30 - 45 trains per day at the height of the Big Bonanza from Carson to Virginia City and Gold Hill. Still primarily a freight railroad, there were 22 locomotives and 361 freight cars in use at the peak of the Virginia and Truckee operations (1876 & 1877), which carried over 400,000 tons of freight per month. This was in contrast to a mere 10 passenger cars.

Expansion and prosperity
In late 1871, a line extension to Reno was begun, to connect the V&T line with the Central Pacific Railroad. This would allow through train service between Virginia City and San Francisco. Construction began with track being installed starting at the Reno end of the line. The first train to run end-to-end from Virginia City to Reno took place on August 24, 1872, pulled appropriately by the road's newest locomotive at the time, No. 11, the Reno. This milestone marked the completion of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. In 1875, the railroad was earning a profit of over $100,000 per month and started paying annual dividends of $360,000 (or $30,000/month) to investors. Also in 1875, the railroad received a second connection, this time in Carson City with its future owner, Continental Rail (then known as the Central Valley & Lake Tahoe Railroad). The line between Carson City and Reno thereafter became known as the "Washoe Joint Railway".

In 1880, the V&T built a three-foot narrow gauge railroad called the Carson & Colorado. The railroad ran from Mound House, just east of Carson City, to the southern part of California, and supposedly to the Colorado River where new mining claims were being struck. This never did pan out, and by 1891 those claim sites were all but forgotten. A liability to the V&T, the "slim princess" was sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1900. In the words of Ogden Mills, "Either we built this line 300 miles too short or 300 years too early" reflected V&T's attitude towards the railroad.

Shortly after the sale of the C&C, silver was discovered at Tonopah, Nevada. The C&C became prosperous for the Southern Pacific (as well as the V&T, which had intermediate rail access), as wagon trains would run for miles through the desert to reach the narrow-gauge line, or later on the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad which would then carry it back to the V&T at the Mound House junction. Because the break of gauge between the Carson & Colorado and Virginia & Truckee, the Tonopah ore had to be unloaded by hand from the narrow-gauge cars and into the standard gauge cars at the C&C northern terminus, causing a backlog of traffic, as cars waited to be transferred. The problem caused by this was also apparent in delivering mining equipment and materials to the mines and the town of Tonopah which was in a building boom. Southern Pacific officials did not like this arrangement, so in 1904 they converted the narrow gauge C&C to standard gauge from Moundhouse to Mina, now renamed the Nevada & California Railroad. In addition, the Southern Pacific (controlled at the time by the Union Pacific Railroad) offered to buy the Virginia & Truckee, but the V&T officials set their price too high (according to U.P. president Harriman). Instead, the Southern Pacific built their own line from the closest available intersect with the former C&C. The line ran 28 miles from Hazen to Fort Churchill and connected their own main lines, thus bypassing the V&T entirely.

In 1904, the corporation changed its name to the Virginia and Truckee Railway. In response to agricultural and cattle ranch concerns, the V&T built a short branch line to Minden, about 26 miles south of Carson City, in 1906. This branch line brought in increased freight traffic; as a result the V&T purchased three new ten-wheelers from Baldwin: (the first) No. 25, 26, and 27, in 1905, 1907, and 1913 respectively.

Decline of the railroad and sale to Continental Rail
The Virginia and Truckee's decline began as early as 1924, the first year in which the railroad had failed to make a profit. Mining revenue had dropped off to very low levels, though revenue from the Minden line continued to flow. Passenger revenue was on a steady decline, due to the increased use of the automobile on the ever-expanding highway system in the US. US 395 ran alongside the V&T from Minden all the way up to Reno and US 50 ran from South of Carson City over to Mound House and the turnoff to Nevada State Route 17 (later NV 341), the route to Virginia City.

The sole owner of the railroad in 1933 was Ogden Livingston Mills, grandson of original co-founder Darius Ogden Mills. He personally paid the deficits in the railroad's operating costs as a nod to the past and his family's involvement in the early days of Virginia City. That year, Mills decided that the only way to save the railroad was to sell it to its longtime partner, Continental Rail, who was more than happy to save it. The first thing Continental Rail did was close Tunnel #3, a historically-unstable tunnel, and building a shoe-fly around it.

Continental Rail years
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Continental Rail primarily ran the line using its own locomotives, and largely mothballed the V&T's own steam locomotives, with only the three Baldwin ten-wheelers seeing regular service. By the 1950s, as Continental Rail's own network expanded through the acquisition of failed railroads, its locomotives were needed elsewhere, and many V&T locomotives were overhauled and returned to service, with the 4-4-0 locomotives largely demoted to running tourist services from Reno to Virginia City due to being considered too small and weak for the increasingly-heavy freight cars of the era.

In 1976, the V&T acquired its first locomotive since 1913, that being ex-Dardanelle & Russellville 4-4-0 #8, which was renumbered to #28. The next year, it acquired a 2-8-0 #680 from the Longview, Portland, and Northern, which was renumbered to #29. Around this time, the V&T began running a short tourist service from Virginia City to Gold Hill, highlighting the various mines.

In 1984, another steam locomotive was acquired in the form of Southern Pacific #1251, an 0-6-0 switcher that had been a park display in Stockton, CA. Upon arrival, it was renumbered to #30 and assigned to the Carson City Yard (the previous switcher, #21 J.W. Bowker, was deemed too weak for the increasingly-heavy freight cars used by American railroads, and was donated to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento in 1982; prior to #30's acquisition, switching in Carson City was done by Continental Rail locomotives). 1987 saw the acquisition of ex-Hobart Southern #8 from the Feather River Short Line, renumbered to #31.

By 2002, the need for the V&T to use its own diesels was identified (up to this point, Continental Rail generally assigned GP9, SD9, and RS-11 locomotives to the V&T, with the primary use of diesels being trains to and from the Sierra Line), and ex-Quincy Railroad #3 was borrowed from the Portola Railroad Museum (now Western Pacific Railroad Museum) in Portola, CA, to train V&T crews in the use of diesels. In 2003, a more permanent diesel was acquired in the form of ex-U.S. Army GE 80-ton switcher #1694. It was repainted in the railroad's passenger paint scheme and given the number D-1. The locomotive was used for the Virginia City-Gold Hill tourist services on weekdays initially, before being reassigned to switching in Minden. D-1 makes frequent trips over the Sierra Line, and can often be found switching through coaches at Sacramento for the Transcontinental Zephyr, Western Star, and Farmer. In May 2010, an ALCO S-4 Diesel engine was acquired from Montana in operable condition. It has been numbered D-2 and is primarily used for freight services. In July of that year, ex-McCloud River Railroad #18 was acquired from an undisclosed source, and renumbered to #32 (for its first day in operation on July 24, 2010, the locomotive was still wearing its old identity, and was quickly repainted overnight).

In May 2013, the railroad acquired a GE 44-ton switcher engine and three passenger cars from the defunct Yuma Valley Railway. The diesel was given the number D-3, and began preliminary testing in April 2016. D-3 entered service in June 2016 as the Minden swithcer to substitute for D-1, which was out-of-service with an unspecified problem; D-3 eventually became the permanent Minden switcher, while D-1 became a road locomotive for freight trains. The passenger cars are in good condition, and entered service shortly after arriving.

In November 2016, the railroad acquired an EMD SW1200 from Evraz, numbered 3540. The locomotive has since been renumbered D-4, arrived in an operable state, and immediately entered service as a road locomotive.

2020 saw a second bay-window caboose transferred to the railroad by Continental Rail to replace the bay-window caboose accidentally destroyed by a welder's torch in 2003, No. 51. The new caboose, numbered 52, was originally built by the Union Pacific in 1979 and sold to Continental Rail in 1996. The caboose is meant for use on the Virginia City-Gold Hill tourist trains.

Passenger
Modern passenger services consist of four daily roundtrips from Reno to Virginia City, six daily roundtrips from Carson City to Minden, the Comstocker service running one daily roundtrip from Virginia City to Sacramento via the Sierra Line (running to Sacramento in the morning, and returning to Virginia City in the evening), five daily tourist trips that run nonstop from Reno to Virginia City, and seven tourist roundtrips from Virginia City to Gold Hill from May to October. Reno-Virginia City services take through cars from the Transcontinental Zephyr and California Zephyr at Reno, and the Sierran at Carson City.

The V&T has five designated coach formations: Continental Rail's Sierran service is handled by its own equipment and crews, though the V&T locomotives have been known to run the entire route from Reno to Sacramento during peak travel periods.

Freight
Modern freight operations are varied. Most operations are centered in Carson City and Minden. Customers in Carson City are primarily service-based, mainly delivery of everyday items. The Minden area has more sidings than any other part of the V&T, and long trains of covered hoppers and tank cars with various agricultural products are common on the line between Minden and Carson City.

Freight operations in Virginia City are mainly centered around resurgent Comstock Lode mining operations, with a central processing plant located in Carson City. Ore trains still use 1940s-vintage "ore jennies" built by Continental Rail specifically for the V&T. Other freight operations in Virginia City include delivery of everyday items.

Through freights from the Sierra Line in Carson City to the Donner Joint Line in Reno are generally handled by Continental Rail locomotives and crews. The V&T often runs local freight services from Carson City to Glenbrook, Incline Village, Crystal Bay, and Kings Beach on the Lake Tahoe Loop, mainly due to pre-existing agreements dating back to 1894.