Mr. Drew’s talk will trace the history of one of America’s richest short line railroads which operated between Reno, Carson City, and the Nevada Comstock Lode at Virginia City. After 80 years of operation, the last train ran on May 31, 1950. But in 1976, Orinda resident Robert C. Gray began bringing the Bonanza Railroad “back to life!”
A well regarded railroad historian, Stephen Drew recently retired after 35 years as Chief Curator of the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento—America’s premier interpretive railroad museum. He has been researching the V&T for more than 45 years. Two of his recent books are the 117-page “Virginia & Truckee Inyo: Nevada’s ‘Brass Betsy'” published in 2010, and the 50-page “Official Guidebook of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad: Virginia City to Gold Hill to Carson City, Nevada. Your Personal Onboard Travel Guide to the V&T” which was published last year. Both books are sold by the Nevada State Railroad Museumin Carson City and elsewhere.
This talk will be accompanied by a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation. We hope that V&T President and General Manager Robert C. Gray will be in attendance for the program.
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