V&T cars could be sold after second vote

The state commission building the V&T Railway voted, again, to sell five railroad passenger cars that have cost more to maintain than they were to buy.

The majority of members on the Nevada Commission for the Reconstruction of the V&T Railway said Monday the cars were unneeded and cost too much.

The commission first voted to sell the cars in July.

Commissioner Ron Allen said he'd put the cars up for sale. Allen also said in July he would sell them. He led the call to buy the cars in 2006.

The cars cost $25,000 to buy. They cost at least that much to move from a San Francisco museum and store in Portola, Calif. They would cost even more to refurbish and move to Nevada.

The cars should be sold for junk if no one will buy them, Commissioner Dwight Millard said. The only purpose of the commission is to build an 18-mile tourist railroad from Virginia City to Carson City, he said.

"When we operate a train set, we've gone a long way beyond our mandate to build a railroad," he said.

But Allen said the commission needs to have some cars. The commission has a engine and should also have train cars to be prepared for negotiations or problems with an operator.

"I've never seen it as this commission running a railroad," he said.

The commission has a tentative operating agreement with Sierra Nevada Railroad Corp. The commission is working with the Virginia City-based V&T Railroad Company to start train rides this summer on what's finished of the track.

Commissioner John Tyson said the argument that the commission should not have train equipment is "ludicrous." Most commissioners have not always felt this way, he said.

"How did we end up with an engine and five cars?" he said.

About 7.5 miles of track from Gold Hill to Highlands Drive in Carson City is scheduled to be done next month. Work on the track started in 2005.

Ken Dorr, project engineer, said about another mile leading the track to the Carson River Canyon should be under construction in July.

The commission will get the estimated $2.5 million for the work from the federal stimulus package, he said.

The entire project is expected to cost at least $55 million and be done around 2012.