Historic train convention coming

The Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge Historic Society will visit routes, depots and artifacts associated with Carson & Colorado Railway in Lyon County at its annual convention Thursday through Sunday.

The railroad ran 300 miles from Mound House to Owens Valley, Calif., to support mining and milling from 1880 to 1938.

The society has 124 members from 14 states who help preserve the history of narrow gauge trains, said Dennis Burke, society president. These trains, with a narrower wheel base than average trains, were built to handle steep hills and sharp corners.

Images of rustic railroad cars running across the desert make up a great picture of the past, Burke said.

"It's just like someone looking at Cadillac cars who likes Cadillacs," he said. "It's like, 'Whoa.'"

More than 20 people from the society will spend time in the area visiting a Carson & Colorado Railway depot in Dayton, riding the tourist V&T Railroad in Virginia City and listening to lectures at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City.

Linda Clements, a member of the narrow gauge society and the Dayton Valley Historical Society, said people are interested in narrow gauge trains for the same reason other people like steam trains and historic towns like Virginia City.

"It's the past," she said. "It's excitement. It's railroads. It's big power, but on this very quaint scale."

She said narrow gauge trains aren't used commercially anymore. Southern Pacific Railroad even changed the Lyon County section of the track to regular gauge after it bought the railroad in 1900, she said.

"The one reason they're fascinated is because (the trains) are remnants of a bygone era," she said.