Steam & Excursion > Honoring the Legacy of the Virginia & Truckee in Carson

At the end of next week we will mark sixty four and a half years since the last scheduled Virginia & Truckee train departed Carson City, Nevada. Not much is left to show a railroad ever ran through the heart of downtown Carson City except for the depot at the corner of Washington and Carson Streets and the weedy lot where the railroad's shops once stood. Urban development has wiped out where the railroad's yards used to be. Yet Carson City continues to find ways to honor its place in western railroad history- perhaps the most prominent of these is the Nevada State Railroad Museum towards the south end of town, home to a good percentage of the surviving equipment from the original V&T. Other remembrances can be seen in numerous murals and pictures of the railroad prominently displayed on the outside of buildings around town. A large grocery store towards the east end of town chose to model the front of its store after the V&T shop building front. But perhaps the most unique tribute to the memory of this railroad can be found at the recently constructed interchange of Interstate 580 and Highway 50.

I spent last weekend in the Reno area and found myself with most of a day to kill last Saturday, and I decided to pay a visit to Carson City. I spent several hours at the Nevada State Railroad Museum before visiting some of the other tributes around town. Seen here in this first post is the original V&T depot building, looking east towards where the yards used to be, then the front of the grocery store modeled after the old V&T shop building, and finally the interpretive sign accompanying the display built into the freeway interchange.

To be continued.

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The display built around the freeway interchange consists of two parts. The first part, the scene featuring the #11 leading an ore train past Chinese laborers building a retaining wall described in the interpretive sign, is located up on the shoulders of I-580 just next to the overpass carrying that road over Highway 50, while underneath the overpass on either side of Highway 50 is a scene featuring one of the V&T 2-6-0 locomotives rolling out of the shop building towards the turntable. Initial views of both scenes are attached to this message.

To be continued.

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Been nice if the shops hadn't been torn down, that the BLM office wasn't
built in the middle of the ROW and a few other things. But, liked your post
and I guess it's the thoughts that count.

Out

Three more views of the displays, first looking over the "turntable" towards the front of the shop building, then looking the other way across the turntable and Highway 50 towards a picture in concrete of the tracks continuing on through a cut and curving out of view- note the approaching train in the cut- and then another view of the "Reno" and its train, with a pile of what is probably supposed to represent ties stacked in the foreground.

To be continued.

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I'm always impressed when cities find ways to celebrate their heritage. I should note this is only one of several such iron sculptures scattered along I-580 in Carson City- others are a giant eagle and several deer (maybe elk) on the climb out the north end of town.

Anyway, here are the last three images, a close up of the Reno, the three Chinese laborers building the retaining wall, and then the last image probably sums up the contrast between Nevada's past and present better than anything else.

Thanks for looking.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

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I think your last image traces a Nevada business history that precedes the V&T.

Once I was driving (with my wife) to find the location of Mound House, the former interchange between the V&T and the Carson & Colorado.
The road led right up to the entrance of the Cottontail Ranch.
I'll leave it to others to explain the nature of ranching in that part of Nevada.

Just keep your sense of humor when doing history.

Jeff, thanks for those. I haven't been to Reno or Carson City since 1997, and sure didn't see those then. Pretty thoughtful of someone or some organization. I hope to get back to the V&T someday.

When the V&T was abandoned in 1950, Carson City became the only one of the 48 state capitals to not have a railroad. I wonder what that figure would be today.

The grocery store has the same number of stalls and the shops had.

Pretty interesting displays. I will check them out next time I am in town.

Too bad they got so many errors in the interpretive sign like the V&T being narrow gauge etc. Oh well, at least they tried.

Martin

Well done Jeff!

Hey Jeff, glad you caught these. I saw them when Peggy and I went to ride the V&T last month, as we were staying at that casino near the US50-I580 interchange, and saw all of these art pieces. Glad you photographed it all, and impressed with the tip of the hat to Nevada history.

Lee Hower

This is a great follow-up to the wonderful news that the narrow gauge Glenbrook was fired up Weds. at the NSRM in Carson City. First time in 89 years! See you tube or their website.

I think I would stop the train (possible hot box) and check out what was being advertised.


Nudge