Keep Virginia & Truckee Railway commission on track

Sometimes it breaks my heart to see how uncreative the general public and its government of Nevada really is. When people normally make lemonade when life gives them lemons, this particular demographic has a way of throwing those lemons away to buy Twinkies instead. "Lemons are too weird," they say, "Twinkies are just easier." And thus is the beginning of a voracious bad habit.

It is for this reason that Nevada is the prime example of a group of people who feed their addiction to oil because of the fear of trying something different, and so describes the reason that the historic and surprisingly useful Virginia & Truckee Railroad between Carson and Virginia cities, when completed, will be used only for tourism and will haul no freight or local commuters.

"This railroad will be just as it was when it was built in 1869," proclaims the Tri-County V&T Commission, the organization in charge of its reconstruction, "Save for the fact that we'll be bypassing Mound House and using a huge oil-burning freight locomotive that's too rigid for the curves and isn't anything like what this section of the V&T used just so we can say we have a steam railroad."

The Commission for the Reconstruction of the V&T Railway has an official charter, the main mission in it being to adhere to the original right-of-way. Although most people assume that this is exactly what's being done, the commission's Web site (www.steam train.org) states that the railroad will run along the foothills for a ways around Mound House so as to keep from interfering with residences and commercial business. When was the last time you heard of a viable method of transportation being an interference with business? Isn't the railroad meant to improve on it?

It is my belief that the interest of public transportation can be attended to on the same trains as the tourists ride on by issuing "season passes," which can be bought by regular riders who reside in the area. Tourist traffic offsets the cost of what it would normally be for any diesel or electric railroad, so the railroad would be able to charge a much lower price to ship freight than any trucking company would.

Mound House was an important stop on the V&T Railroad for the exact same reasons that it could be today. Trains must stop there for water anyway, and businesses and people who reside there would be able to use the railroad to perform their everyday tasks.

We must show the V&T Commission that it would be making a grave mistake by bypassing Mound House, for they justify it with no better reason other than it being just cheaper that way. Perhaps it would be beneficial to worry about Mound House later and build the part of the line that runs through the Carson River Canyon while the roadbed in Mound House, now nothing more than a paved road, is acquired.

This would give us time to make sure that the railroad is built right, just as the Chinese and Irish did in 1869.

n Sam Flakus is a Markleeville resident.