Crookedest Railroad Turns New Bend
Nevada and Jim Clark team up to save the Virginia & Truckee.
By: Jana Bommersbach 02/01/2008
Model railroads didn't do a thing for Jim Clark when he was a kid growing up in Milwaukee and California in the 1940s and 1950s, but the real thing blew his whistle.
That fascination hasn't diminished one bit as he has not only become a Hollywood expert on trains, but he's also owned a train himself and now is helping bring back the "Queen of the Short lines" in Nevada.
Jim serves on the board of the Northern Nevada Railway Foundation that is charged by the state with restoring all 17 miles of the original Virginia and Truckee Railroad that runs from Virginia City to Carson City, through 17 complete circles that make it the "crookedest railroad in the country."
"This was the train that carried its weight in gold and silver," Jim notes. Built in 1869 to guarantee the delivery of precious metals from the mines to the mills, the railroad did its job well until operators abandoned the line in 1938. The private funds raised to build the railroad resulted in the most beautiful locomotives and rolling stock seen on any line, so when it was no longer wanted as a transport of commerce, its luscious pieces went off to Hollywood, where they starred in more than 80 films.
In 1976, Robert Gray of Sacramento, California, decided to bring back the train as a tourist ride. He restored some of the tracks to provide a 35-minute ride that has been a popular tourist attraction that's since carried one million passengers (including the 40,000 who rode the train last year). The ride whetted the appetite of those who heard the story of the original line, and the State of Nevada was convinced that bringing back the V&T would be an economic boon to the area. It also would restore an important piece of Nevada history.
Post A Comment