With phase 1 completed, V&T commission looks to renovate rail cars

Five historic rail cars purchased for use on the reconstructed Virginia & Truckee Railway arrived last week at their renovation destination: Portola, Calif. There, rail specialists will evaluate how much it will cost the V&T commission to get the cars on the rail - if they ever will.

The state commission in charge of the reconstruction of the V&T purchased the five 1923 Southern Pacific Harriman suburban coaches without knowing for sure if they will ever ride the rails again. In past meetings, commissioners have been optimistic, but also aware that the purchase could be a dud.

The board passed around pictures of the rail cars, which showed peeling paint, missing windows, graffiti and some rust around the windows and bolts.

The cost to renovate the cars for use on the tourist track is still unknown, though estimates are $10,000 for each car, Commissioner Ron Allen said Monday. He headed the operations team that decided to buy the cars for $25,500 from the Golden Gate Railroad Museum at Hunters Point Naval Base in San Francisco. He has said all the steel on the cars is good, and that they will be serviceable.

The cars arrived in Portola on Thursday night. While there, they will be evaluated by restoration specialists.

In February, the commission decided to budget $29,000 to tow the five cars behind a locomotive owned by the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola, which is operated by the Feather River Railway Society.

"The good news is, the costs of the move are a lot less," Allen said. "I have the bill right here, and it's for $15,000. The bad news is that, unfortunately, on one of the cars, someone changed the wheel sets on it a year and a half ago, and they did not do it properly."

This mistake caused the axle bearings to rust. Movers borrowed three wheel axle sets to move the car to Portola. The axles must be returned, Allen said, so that means the commission would have to purchase new ones.

The Portola railroad museum is well known for restoring historic rail stock.

"We'll set up guidelines to say what kind of work we want to do and work up prices," Allen said.

The $40 million V&T project is expected to be completed in 2009. Tourists will ride the 18 miles between Carson City and Virginia City by 2010.

-- Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.