History is Made on the V&T Despite Strongarm Tactics

No. 40 -- VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILWAY -- Nevada Railroad Reconstruction Chronicles

A RUN-IN WITH THE POWERS THAT BE: GARY "THE SHERIFF" LUCE, GEOLOGIST

11/27/09

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (warning, contains satire and/or cynicism, read at your own risk)

(EUREKA MILL, NV) -- Today's historic first passenger run on the first part of Phase 3 of Nevada's Virginia and Truckee Railway Reconstruction Project was marred only by some amazing antics by Gary "Vinnie" Luce, Project Geologist and forceful frontman.

PERFECT DAY ENDS WITH A THUD

Jim Lohse, a well known critic of the Nevada Commission for the Reconstruction of the Virginia and Truckee Railway, was aboard the first passenger train to run past Eastgate Siding onto the new tracks heading to Eureka in the Carson River Canyon.

Lohse is producing The Unauthorized Biography of the Virginia and Truckee Railways. He relates a bizarre incident that marred the end of an otherwise perfect day. For the last two years has shot video of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad as well as the government run reconstruction of the Virginia and Truckee Railway.

"I got to Virginia City at 6am and the whole day I got these fantastic shots, stuff that was really icing on the cake of my video collection."

Relating a sudden turn of events, Lohse claims that his last day of shooting before heading into production ended with a thud. Lohse says that project geologist Gary "The Snapper" Luce didn't like him taking video of the train and hit his camera after blocking his shot and intimidating him.

OPPORTUNITY FOR HISTORIC RIDE

"I was already on the train all day, and I planned to go home at 1pm," Lohse recounted. "I found out that at the end of the day the train would run down the new tracks, marking a historic moment." Lohse says he boarded the train at Eastgate Siding and rode with Project Engineer Ken Dorr in the cab of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad's #29. Although Lohse has been a fierce critic of what he sees as "bad governance and straight-up dishonesty" by the government commission, he was surprised that Ken Dorr did not object to his presence in the cab.

"It was really a nice end to the day, here I am in the cab with a person I have accused of a crime and he is high-minded enough to be civil to me. I always felt Ken was one of the good people who can endure political battles and still meet for a beer at the end of the day. Some people take criticism much more personally. We were being friendly and Ken was even explaining highlights of the trip as we went along. I was thankful and told him so."

UNAUTHORIZED VIDEO TAKES LUCE BY SURPRISE

It had just started drizzling a cold rain. The experience took an abrupt u-turn when Lohse got off the locomotive to film the train's movements at the end of the track, at Eureka Siding, near the historic location of the Eureka Mill. Lohse recalls the strange turn of events: "I was making video of Ken Dorr operating the switches. Then I moved up the tracks past the passenger cars to get another angle. Despite Ken's implicit permission for my activities, I was filming when suddenly someone walked in front of my camera and blocked my shot."

Lohse claims that it was Gary "The Hand" Luce. Luce was mad because he recently discovered video posted on YouTube showing video made aboard a ballast train in 2008. Gary was confronting Lohse about this, while Lohse says he demurred. "He had me on a technicality, I posted it, I know the video was a surprise to him, but he was assuming I was the person who filmed it. I wasn't supposed to be on those trains, it was against the construction site rules. For the sake of argument, if I was on that train, it must have been with permission of the engineer, right?"

MAYBE THE WEATHER HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT

Lohse says he assured Luce that no one in charge knew of the effort to capture video on the construction train. "All of a sudden, here we are in a dark river canyon known for criminal activity, and I've got this low-level project employee confronting me about something I posted on YouTube. He knows he's blocking my shot, he accuses me of trespassing, he said some other threatening things."

Things turned worse when Gary "The Hammer Luce" became physical. "Here this thug is simply abusing me verbally, that's OK, I can take that. Then, without warning, he reaches up and hit my camera! It's a good thing I wasn't looking through the viewfinder or I would have got a black eye!"

Lohse says he picked up the camera, walked away and continued filming unmolEsted. Gary "The Body" Luce made no further contact with Lohse, and Lohse reboarded the locomotive for the trip back to the Carson City station.

You might think it would end there, but it didn't. At the end of the trip, Lohse advised Project Engineer Ken Dorr of the incident. Lohse was surprised when Ken engaged in a long argument about wide-ranging subject. "It was quite a shock -- often it's not until people get mad that they really start to tell the truth. Ken let a couple historical facts slip that he never would have told me, except in anger."

TO BE CONTINUED IN POST #41, "THEY TOLD ME TO IGNORE LAND COSTS IN MY ESTIMATES, WE THOUGHT LAND WAS FREE"