Rail Fest splits train time between VC, Carson City

I took my son up to Virginia City Saturday for Rail Fest. He's gotten into trains big time in the past six months. He can spot Thomas the Tank Engine from 50 yards, so I figured a ride on the V&T at VC would do the trick.

He liked it a lot (that's him and me in the photo -- OK, I give up on the photo, as my browser keeps crashing when I try to upload it -- it's cute, trust me), and didn't even flinch when we got to Gold Hill, where a deafening gunfight broke out as part of the ride. I hadn't ridden the train in some years. Today it was being pulled by a diesel engine, but I remember it being pulled by a real steamer in the past. I know because I can remember being choked by the steamer's black smoke when chugging uphill to VC through a tunnel.

VC has train rides every weekend, so today's event was just a bit more of a blowout, with some live music by a guy on banjo and his daughter on washboard, some model trains and rail memorabilia. The event, a fund-raiser for the reconstruction of the V&T to Carson City, continues Sunday with rides from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Nevada State Railroad Museum on U.S. 395 in Carson City.