Nevada Railroading and Railfanning In "The Silver State"

Nevada railroading may be quite rural and isolated in most locations but it does offer several jewels, not to mention that it serves key main lines of both the BNSF Railway and Union Pacific (particularly the latter which has multiple lines in the state). The Silver State is also home to the historic Nevada Northern (a virtually untouched excursion operation from the 19th century!) and the fabled Virginia & Truckee which is planned to be entirely rebuilt, along with help from the State of Nevada.

Nevada railroading has its beginnings dating back to 1868 when the Central Pacific reached the state building east from Sacramento, California. In the proceeding years the Silver State would be home to a number of celebrated western railroads including (along with the UP) the Southern Pacific, Western Pacific and Santa Fe (which had a very small presence in Nevada via a branchline running to Beatty in the southwestern corner of the state).

While Nevada railroading is probably historically remembered by the operations of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific the much smaller Western Pacific also had a considerable presence through the state with its Salt Lake City-Sacramento/Bay Area main line traveling through the northern region of Nevada (it also had a branch extending to Reno).

Today, Nevada railroading is almost exclusively the realm of Class Is, Union Pacific and BNSF, along with a number of fabled tourist railroads like the V&T and Nevada Northern. And, while trains like the California Zephyr and City of San Francisco are no longer operated by their original creators, the CZ remains under the Amtrak banner with stops in Elko, Winnemucca, Sparks and Reno.

In total, there is a little over 1,000 miles of trackage operated in the Silver State today. For a more in-depth look at Nevada railroading, in terms of rail mileage over the years please have a look at the chart below.

To give a brief overview of the WP, it was a railroad that probably should never have been built and had Collis P. Huntington and the railroad magnates of California had their way it certainly would not have! The WP was the longtime dream of Arthur Keddie who wanted to construct a railroad through the Feather River Canyon of Northern California. For nearly 80 years the WP moved freight through its well engineered, albeit high maintenance, main line between San Francisco/Oakland and Salt Lake City although its small size (just over 1,000 of total mileage) and being surrounded by giants ultimately cost it its independence (the railroad, however, was a tenacious fighter). For its small size, however, the railroad was well known for a number of things including being one component of the highly successful California Zephyr passenger train and its Keddie Wye at Keddie, CA (which features a magnificent split-bridge where its Inside Gateway, a line that diverged from its Salt Lake City main line, connected to Bieber, California and a link with the Great Northern).

The WP’s beginnings are symbolic of the railroad as a whole; always fighting for respect and survival. Aurthur Keddie tried two times to begin railroads through the Feather River Canyon and both times Huntington and other tycoons denied him, bent on keeping him out of the region they believed was theirs (the 1869 Oroville & Virginia City and 1889 San Francisco & Great Salt Lake). To do so they used their near-infinite resources to pool power in terms of political means to prevent Keddie from receiving either money or land to build his railroads.

However, Keddie was just as relentless as his foes to get his railroad built and a near innocent encounter with another mogul finally gave him the break he needed. George Gould, son of the legendary Jay Gould, had received his father’s inheritance and was seeking to build a railroad (to do this he had created two companies the Indian Valley and Butte & Plumas) through the same canyon as Keddie (Keddie had recently started a new railroad known as the Stockton & Beckwith Pass). Neither part of the Big Four (which included Collis P. Huntington, Charles Crocker, Mark Hopkins, and Leland Stanford and all literally owned California railroading at that time) nor interested in allying with them, Gould joined up with Keddie and the two set about their task creating the Western Pacific Railway in March of 1903, nearly 40 years since Keddie’s dream had begun.

Following World War II, however, the Western Pacific finally managed to achieve some consistency and success gaining traffic and upgrading its property. It also held excellent presidents starting during the 1950s with Frederic B. Whitman, which brought continued and upgraded improvements to the railroad and its property. Other presidents such as Alfred Pearlman, an excellent manager and railroader, followed Whitman and carried the Western Pacific through the 1970s bringing additional efficiencies and progress to the railroad.

It was the 1980 deregulation of the rail industry that ironically did the WP in. Ultimately the railroad’s size and being surrounded by giants such as Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Burlington Northern resulted in the railroad being unable to compete with the free rate-making now available to these railroads (meaning the larger lines could haul traffic between many more and larger points than the WP resulting in them being able to offer cheaper rates than the WP). Naturally it did not take long for the railroad to be forced into a decision, none of which would allow it to remain independent. Thus, the Union Pacific would be the road that would offer to purchase the WP and this it did merging the railroad into its system just before Christmas, 1982.

In all, Nevada railroading, while remote, is rich in history and still offers main line, Class I action. So, if trackside along the BNSF or UP becomes boring stop by the V&T or Virginia Northern to see classic railroading at its finest!