Welcome Chairman Millard to V&T Reconstruction Commission

No. 19 -- VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILWAY -- Nevada Railroad Reconstruction Chronicles

Here's a link to a Nevada Appeal article on the Commission to Reconstruct the Virginia and Truckee Railway:

6/11/09 Nevada Appeal: Millard New V&T Chairman


Here is a synthesis of the three-part comment I posted:

The article says, "But Millard might be inclined to agree with commissioners who want to not only build the railroad, but to operate the trains running on it."

This is a mis-characterization. Millard may do what it takes in the short term to run revenue trains for the public, and I support him fully in this goal. Imagine if the 395 extension around Carson City were in its current state, half-built, but it was still closed to traffic. That's what you have today with the V&T -- 37 million dollars spent on untested questionable assumptions and no public access.

Running trains for the public will finally make the V&T Commission face the test of demand. Of course the first few trains will be full. Next year, if a regular schedule can be achieved, we will finally see what the real demand for the "train to nowhere" is. If Millard proves to be a good leader, this will become a "train to somewhere."

Despite the one-liner in the Nevada Appeal article, Chairman Dwight Millard has a history of opposing John Tyson and Ron Allen's idea that the Commission should operate the trains directly.

Putting aside Tyson's dream of being the engineer, the Commission has shown ZERO marketing ability and has no operational experience with a real tourist or freight railroad. Tyson owns a private car and ran steam at the V&T and Nevada Northern. That's it, as far as I know. Allen runs a state-funded and state-maintained train around a short circle of track at the Carson City, Nevada State Railroad museum. They have zero experience marketing and selling a train to the public.

Millard has shown on many occasions that he wants nothing to do with operating trains long term. When it came to the birdcages (cars) stored so badly in Portola, after the Commission voted to get rid of them and Ron Allen sat on the issue for a year, Millard (jokingly) suggested blowing up the cars to get rid of them.

After saying they could be rid of the cars by "blowing them up" Millard suggested scrapping them or giving them away. He does not entertain foolish notions that after money was spent on an operator selection process they should go back on their own decision so John Tyson and Ron Allen can play engineer.

Millard is also the only business person on the Commission who understands the project. While Bonnie Weber can claim to be part of a Reno-based sign business, it's totally clear that she doesn't do her homework, doesn't understand the first thing about trains (she admits this publicly) and like other Commissioners doesn't have the dedication to the project to truly move it forward.

Millard does have the background, dedication and commitment. I hope things get much better. The first thing Millard can do is instruct the Commission attorney and staff member to meet their legal requirements in answering public records requests. Over time, there have been several requests I have made under Nevada law that have been ignored for months.