Virginia and Truckee Historical Society

Not too much modeling this last week. I was attending the annual Virginia & Truckee Railroad Historical Society conference in Carson City, Nevada. Over a three-day period, we had the opportunity to listen to several talks on V&T subjects such as passenger cars, paint schemes, modeling equipment and development of the V&T's signature mogul locomotives. Other speakers showed the development of the main yards and shops at Carson City. There were several vendors of V&T related goods, both model and prototype.
   The best thing, though, is being able to visit with knowledgeable folks that you only see once a year at the conference. People from all over the U.S. attend and after-conference groups break away to discuss their own particular interests.
  The Saturday night banquet featured speakers from the engineering staff who are rebuilding the V&T from Virginia City to Carson. This is a great train ride, incidentally, and I highly recommend it if you are in the area.

   A visit to the V&T's first depot in Virginia City was the Sunday field trip. Of course, most us had to visit the Nevada State Railroad Museum in town and see what has been happening. The museum's gorgeous McKeen car was rolled out in the great Fall weather.
  Fortunately for me, I had some time to visit the University of Nevada and do some research on the early railroads of the area. This research has been very helpful in my modeling efforts.
   For those of you interested in the Virginia and Truckee, check out the Society's webpage at www.vtrrhs.org. They have a great newsletter and publish some well-research books on aspects of V&T history.