V&T sells out third car; adds short run

The V&T Railway has added a third passenger car to its weekend trains and is still selling every ticket for the steam train runs between Eastgate Siding and Virginia City.

"All three cars have been selling out," said Kevin Ray, project manager for the V&T Railway Commission. "There are 225 people riding each day."

Candy Duncan of the Carson City Convention & Visitors Bureau said the ride is so popular that, as of Monday, there were only seven tickets left for Saturday's train.

The third passenger car, named the Carson City car, will be formally dedicated by Mayor Bob Crowell Friday evening at Eastgate.

Because of the train's growing popularity, Duncan said they have decided to continue running trains after the scheduled end of the season Oct. 31, Nevada Day. She and Commission Chairman Dwight Millard said the diesel trains will continue running Saturdays through Dec. 18.

In addition, Duncan said a short train trip will be offered through the latest section of track just completed by Q&D Construction. That section of track heads down into the Carson River Canyon from Eastgate - the first leg of the most scenic portion of the ride, which will eventually reach all the way from Virginia City to Carson City.

She said the Saturday evening run will leave at

5 p.m. pulled by the steam engine. Down and back, she said, will take about

45 minutes and cost $15.

She dubbed it the "Colors in the Canyon" trip.

Duncan said the visitor's bureau has surveyed riders for their opinion of the train ride and where they are from.

She said riders were almost universally happy with the train ride experience and that fully half of them came in from California, with 40 percent from Nevada and 10 percent from other states and foreign countries. Of 230 people surveyed, she said, 74 parties stayed in Carson City overnight.

She said those numbers are very encouraging for the V&T's first full season of operation and, hopefully, will help convince area hotel and motel operators the train is a solid tourist attraction, which will bring them business.