Virginia & Truckee 29: Steam to the Comstock

While on a recent business trip to the Lake Tahoe area, my Dad brought along one of my cameras and went on a chase of Virginia & Truckee 29 out of Carson City. Huge thanks to him for getting this footage.

The "Queen of the Shortlines" was built in the 1870s to connect the towns mining gold & silver from the Comstock Lode with the Central Pacific in Reno. The Comstock was a major deposit of silver ore, and kept the towns of Virginia City and Gold Hill and the railroad rich for half a century. The railroad began to decline in the 20s as the mines were closed and the line from Carson City to Virginia City was torn up in 1938, with the remainder of the railroad being abandoned in 1950.

In 1976, the line was reopened from Virginia City to Tunnel 4 as a tourist operation. No. 29 was brought to the line in 1977 and has been a mainstay of V&T operations ever since. The reconstructed line reached Gold Hill in 1991 and the eastern fringes of Carson City by 2009. Much of the original V&T's rolling stock and locomotives have been preserved on the other side of Carson City at the Nevada State Railroad Museum.

Видео Virginia & Truckee 29: Steam to the Comstock канала Smoky Mtn Steam