The History of the Rebuilding
Of the V & T Railroad Project
The project to rebuild the historic V & T Railroad, first completed in the mid 1880s, began in 1991 when five members of the Friends of the Nevada State Railroad Museum formed the Virginia & Truckee Historic Railroad Society.
In 1992, the Society approached the Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau and received financing to:
1. Have right-of-way surveys prepared.
2. Contract with the Western Nevada Development District (WNDD) for administrative services.
3. To pay title and escrow fees.
At that time, four local engineering firms, Lumos & Associates, Hadden Engineering, Resource Concepts, and Piedmont Engineering, began working on the identification of the owners of the rights-of-way involved in the reconstruction.
At the request of the Society, Lumos & Associates prepared an application and Carson City applied for $1.7 million of Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) funds to construct a one (1) mile extension of the railroad beginning at the current end of the line at Gold Hill in Storey County. Through the efforts of Senator Harry Reid, the application was selected for funding and received $1.5 million. The Carson City Convention & Visitors Bureau (CCCVB) set aside $83,500 to be used as the required 5% matching funds.
Carson City and the Society realized there was a need for an umbrella organization to deal with the reconstruction project since it traversed three counties, and requested the 1992-1993 Legislature enact legislation forming such an organization. The Tri-county Railway Commission was formed by the Legislature to own the project and included two supervisors from the city of Carson City, a commissioner from Storey County and one from Lyon County, and a member from the V & T Historic Society (AB696 Effective July 1, 1993). The Commission was given wide latitude to acquire the necessary land and make necessary arrangements to operate the railroad.
The Commission held its first meeting in August of 1993.
In July of 1993 the Western Nevada Development District obtained a Technical Assistance Grant of $18,750 from Economic Development Administration (EDA) to have an economic impact and feasibility study prepared. The three member counties of the Tri-county Railway Commission each provided $2,083 of the required $6,260 of matching funds.
In 1994 the Commission requested all three counties place a proposition on the November ballot to collect a 1/4 of 1-percent sales tax to be used to reconstruct the V & T Project. The tax proposition passed in Storey County but failed in the other two. The Storey County sales tax was estimated to raise $30,000 annually over the next ten years. It has far exceeded that.
When other attempts at fund raising failed, the Northern Nevada Railway Foundation was formed as a 501(c) (3) to raise the necessary funds to rebuild the railroad.
The Northern Nevada Railway Foundation President, with the Governor’s support, requested the 2001 Legislature to consider three bill drafts:
· A bill renaming the Tri-county Railway Commission to the Nevada Commission to Reconstruct the V & T Railway and expanding the membership to better reflect the regional nature of the economic impact of the reconstruction project.
· A bill making a $5,000,000 grant to the project with no strings.
· A bill that would authorize the issuing of a special V & T license plate. The Foundation President and a Foundation member followed and lobbied for all three bills through committee meetings including Ways & Means and Senate Financing. As a result:
The 2001 Legislature passed:
· SB334 expanding the Tri-county Railway Commission to include Washoe and Douglas along with Carson City, Lyon and Storey counties, and one member each to be appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Senate Majority Leader. The commission was also renamed the Nevada Commission for the Reconstruction of the V & T Railway to better reflect the broader impact of the reconstruction project and the statewide significance of the historic V & T Railroad.
· SB77 Authoring the issuing of a special V & T license plate that would not only raise funds for the reconstruction project but also create an ongoing revenue stream.
In October of 2002 the V & T Special License Plates went on sale and the Foundation opened an office/store in the heart of Carson City to educate the public about the project. Since then, the special license plates have brought in more than $130,000 to help rebuild the V & T. The Commission and the Foundation have had many other successes on the path to rebuilding the V & T and we will have many more. Over the years inflation has increased the cost of the project, however now is a unique time in which construction costs are at a ten year low. This competitive bidding climate is demonstrated by the two phases of construction recently completed and under construction. This construction will be completed at nearly 3 million dollars less than estimated just two years ago. Please consider joining the NNRF or donating to one of our dedicated construction funds. Please help us to finish this important project for our local communities and the State of Nevada as a whole.
