Sierra Railroad Still in the Works

No. 29 -- VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILWAY -- Nevada Railroad Reconstruction Chronicles

At the July 10 meeting, the Memo of Understanding between the Nevada Commission to Reconstruct the Virginia and Truckee Railway was on the agenda. Chris Hart and Robert Pinoli of Sierra Railroad were in attendance. They almost traveled a long way for nothing, because Chairman Dwight Millard started off the discussion as if he didn't have any real reason to put them on the agenda.

Turns out Dwight had a plan. He wanted to convince the Commissioners to hire Sierra as a consultant to tell them what to do with the railroad. I thought there had been years of work along these lines, starting with the 1994 study right through the same consultant helping the commission choose Sierra over the Grays a couple years ago. At that time, Sierra submitted a loose marketing plan. Since then Sierra has lost some favor with the Commission and the Grays appeared to be making inroads by virtue of them having equipment and shops in the area already. When the Commission needed train rides last year and this year, they went to the Gray's REAL Virginia and Truckee Railroad.

During the discussion the Commission asked Sierra about their experience with ADA-compliant cars. Sierra volunteered to send a car up that was compliant. They also agreed to work for the commission as a paid consultant. They still seem to be in play as the long-term operator for 2010 or 2011.

Wrapping up, the Sierra re-invention might have been a better idea BEFORE the former Commission Bob Hadfield diverted money from its intended purpose and then backfilled another $1 million to engineer a wye track and balloon track.