Monday, Feb. 24, 2025 | 2 a.m.
The historic Virginia and Truckee Railway in Northern Nevada may be reaching the end of the line.
The freight railway turned tourist attraction, which connects the outskirts of Carson City to Virginia City, first received funding for its revitalization in the 1990s. It was supposed to eventually pay for itself.
“That hasn’t quite happened,” Carson City Mayor Lori Bagwell told the Nevada Assembly Committee on Growth and Infrastructure last week.
Bagwell — joined by Clay Mitchell, the vice chairman of the Storey County Commission — asked the committee to conduct a study on the railway’s viability and ways to improve it.
Options include terminating the railway’s commission and selling its assets.
Without funding from Storey County and Carson City, the attraction would be losing around $100,000 to $150,000 a year, Mitchell said. With the funding, it operates around $140,000 in the black.
No decision on the study was reached by the Assembly committee.
The railway is known for its seasonal Christmas rides, when the locomotive is transformed into the titular Polar Express from the 1985 book and 2004 movie. The event is a large part of the system’s revenue, V&T Railroad owner and operator Thomas Gray said.
But the V&T Railway Commission doesn’t own the train’s passenger cars — just the engine carrying them. Without owning a larger stock, as well as storage and repair facilities, the railway won’t be “self-sustaining without significant additional investment,” according to the mayor’s presentation.
“We can’t just keep having Storey County and Carson City subsidize it when it hasn’t given our residents the fruition of the project,” Bagwell said. “At some point, we have to admit it just didn’t get there and we have to examine it as a group.”
A slide from Bagwell’s presentation read that continuing to fund the railroad was “untenable” with Carson City’s “growing infrastructure needs.”
“Is it important to remember where you’ve come from? The answer would be yes,” Bagwell said. But “when I look at everything that Carson City needs to accomplish — frankly, roads … it makes it hard for the V&T to win the day.”
On top of earlier investment, Carson City issued a $15 million bond in 2005, set to be paid off in December, through a 0.125% sales tax.
Storey County contributes $250,000 annually to the V&T Railway Commission from a 0.25% increase in sales tax. The commission can also ask the county for additional money in emergency situations.
The project has also received millions from the state and federal governments since 2005.
Mitchell said his constituents may have a larger appetite for investment than taxpayers in Carson City. The train arrives in Virginia City and spends the day there, having a more visible impact on the economy.
“I’m not feeling any sort of pressure from the Storey County end to shut it down,” he said. “I imagine it could continue to tread water and give rides and give memories for years to come. The question is: What’s the long-term viability?”