An hour prior to the 6:00 p.m. derailment, the Washoe Valley had a sudden and intense hour-long thunderstorm, causing rocks and debris to be washed down the hills around the 6,000-foot elevation at Gold Hill. V&T engineer Jerry Hoover was operating V&T 2-8-0 No. 29 on the uphill pull from Gold Hill to Virginia City when the locomotive encountered rocks and debris at the State Route 342 crossing. The train proceeded at 12 mph with only a light passenger load. Hoover quickly shut the throttle as the pilot truck and driving wheels of the engine derailed just past the crossing. Crew and passengers were unharmed.
Dick and Diane McCombs were at the scence. They had been on an earlier excursion between Eastgate and Virginia City, Nev. As they headed back to their motel, the McCombs saw the train approaching the crossing. Diane McCombs got out of their car with her camera in tow to photograph No. 29 as it climbed out of Gold Hill. Little did she know that the locomotive would derail right before her camera lens. Her husband, Dick, joined her and took more pictures of the derailment.
The engine, tender, and lead passenger car blocked highway traffic, and officials rerouted automobiles on a nearby business route for the next 24 hours. Virginia & Truckee owner Tom Gray mobilized workers and a crane to begin cleanup the next morning, Aug. 9. Crews began to rerail the 2-8-0 as Dick McCombs captured it on film. Crews finished by mid-day, and the engine and cars returned to the Virginia City shops for inspection. No. 29 suffered minor brake rigging damage, but the other railroad equipment was in good order. Ex-McCloud Railway 2-8-2 No. 18 took over steam passenger operations on Aug. 12.
Bob Gray and his son, Tom, own V&T Railway, which began operation in the early 1970s. As the railroad’s passenger service grew, V&T expanded trackage first to Gold Hill and then to the edge of Carson City. In the V&T’s 35-plus years, this was its first passenger train derailment under the Grays’ ownership.
MARTIN E. HANSEN is a Bend, Ore., attorney active in western steam operations.
