Virginia & Truckee Railroad Collection, 1869 - 1941

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Summary

Title:
Virginia & Truckee Railroad collection
Dates:
1869 - 1941
Abstract:
This collection is comprised of 13 series consisting of records and materials related to the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. Included Train Registers, 1876-1894, Passenger Department Accounts, 1914-1921, Conductor's Train Registers, Conductor's statements of cash collections, 1888-1889
Extent:
20 Linear Feet 18 boxes + 3 half-boxes + 10 oversize boxes
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Virginia & Truckee Railroad Collection, MS 97, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento, California.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection is comprised of 13 series consisting of records and materials related to the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. Included Train Registers, 1876-1894, Passenger Department Accounts, 1914-1921, Conductor's Train Registers, Conductor's statements of cash collections, 1888-1889

Train registers were created and maintained by the train dispatcher at Carson City, Nevada. One was issued each day. Train registers record all train movements over the line for the day. Information which may be recorded includes the timetable number, train number, locomotive number, surname of conductor and locomotive engineer, arrivals and departure time at major stops along the line, number of cars on train, description of load, and consignee, remarks and car reports. Some sheets have information on both sides; some dates require two sheets.

Passenger Department Accounts, 1914-1921consists of monthly reports of interline ticket sales for Virginia & Truckee Railway. The reports include correspondence and accounting records from the office of Samuel Coleman Bigelow (1885-1945), Virginia & Truckee General Passenger Agent at Carson City, Nevada, from 1917 to 1945. The collection is arranged in three boxes chronologically by month, and then alphabetically by railroad within each month. Railroads represented in the collection with which the Virginia & Truckee had interline service include Southern Pacific, Tonopah & Tidewater, Nevada Northern, Nevada Copper Belt, Denver & Rio Grande, Baltimore & Ohio, Union Pacific and Western Pacific.

Conductor's Train Registers are pre-printed volumes contain daily information about arrival and departure of trains at Virginia City, Nevada, eastward and westward.

Conductors' statements of cash collections, 1888-1889, are pre-printed forms containing information about fares collected by the conductor on each train. Includes: the date, train number, amount collected, and the surname of the conductor.

Survey Books (photocopies), 1869-1916. The books were used by surveyors to show land and existing or proposed structures. They may contain diagrams of buildings and provide useful information about place names and site layout.

The assessment statements are a 266-page volume consists of handwritten responses on printed State of Nevada Railroad Assessment List Statement forms by the Virginia & Truckee and Carson & Colorado Railroads. The statements were prepared by Henry Marvin Yerington (1829-1910) and are arranged by year, and then by county and railroad. The forms contain information on the extent and valuation of the main line and siding trackage in each county. They also contain the number and value of locomotives and passenger, freight and maintenance of way cars operated over the entire railroad, as well as the engines and rolling stock used exclusively in each county. In addition, the statements give locations and valuations of depots shops, roundhouses, section houses, and other facilities, property such as tools and furniture and real estate owned by the railroads in each county.

In addition to the manuscript collection, the CSRM Library also contains extensive photograph, drawing, map, manuscript and ephemera collections related to the V&T. Please contact the library for assistance.

Biographical / historical:

Incorporated March 5, 1868 for the purpose of building a railroad in Nevada from Virginia City to the Carson River and Carson City, with a branch from Carson City to Reno. The line, which included 21 miles from Carson City to Virginia City opened January 1870. Another line, 31 miles from Carson City to Reno opened August 1872. A fifteen-mile extension from Carson to Minden opened in 1906. The last train V&T train operated May 31, 1950. The California State Railroad Museum has three steam locomotives and one combination car from the V&T.

Acquisition information:
This collection is comprised of several donations from Wilfred H. Carpenter, 1977 Grahame Hardy [Train registers]; Gilbert Kneiss [Train registers]; Stephen E. Drew, 1990, 2005, 2008, Wendell P. Hammon; Monte Lawton. As well as the purchase of [Station cash books; Record of Freight Bills] and [Waybills].
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into 13 series:

Series 1. Passenger Department Records

Series 2. Freight Department Records

Series 3. Engineering Department Records

Series 4. Car Department Records

Series 5. Personnel Records

Series 6. Correspondence

Series 7. Forms

Series 8. Assessment Statements

Series 9. Interstate Commerce Commission, Division of Valuation Records

Series 10. Miscellaneous Documents

Series 11. Locomotive Inspection Reports

Series 12. General Purchasing and Supply Agent

Series 13. Financial Records

Physical location:
Statewide Museum Collection Center
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Library Archives staff
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-12-12 17:09:35 +0000 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research by appointment. Contact Library Staff.

Terms of access:

Copyright has been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. Permission for publication must be submitted in writing to the CSRM Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Virginia & Truckee Railroad Collection, MS 97, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento, California.

Location of this collection:
111 I Street
Sacramento, CA 95814, US
Contact:
(916) 323-8073
Library.CSRM@parks.ca.gov
Website