Families enjoy holiday weekend on V&T, steam trains between Carson City and Virginia City

Back on the tracks again, the V&T Railroad kicked off Saturday with a near-sold out day, ample sunshine and a promising full-steam-ahead summer.
"We had a couple of seats left, with quite a few tickets sold for tomorrow," said Candy Duncan, executive director of the Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Today went very smoothly and everyone was excited about going on that first ride of the season."
Rides on the vintage train will resume on Sunday, and continue Fridays through Sundays until fall.

Saturday marks the beginning of the first full-season the V&T will operate, with rides from Carson City to Virginia City, which rail enthusiasts say is a one-of-a-kind delightful rail tour of Nevada history. Last year, V&T operations began in August.
Rides include the Sisters in History Route, a 3-hour round trip from Carson City to Virigina City that begans above the Carson River Canyon and runs the east side of Highway 50, then picks up the historical Comstock.

The Historic Route runs 70-minutes round-trip from Virigina City Gold Hill. In this fascinating trip, riders can travel back to the bonanza days that include stories of Nevada's 19th Century mining boom when Virginia City was considered the richest town in America.
Meanwhile train enthusiasts and families took advantage of the Nevada State Railroad Museum train rides on Saturday. Anthony and Rebecca Reynolds who recently moved to Carson Valley, took their daughter Makayla on a steam engine trip. Anthony Reynolds is stationed at the Marine Corps Mountain Warefare Traning Center at Pickel Meadow. As a marine, he did one tour of duty in Iraq before returning to Camp Pendleton in San Diego.
He was recently relocated to Pickel Meadow. Anthony's wife, Rebecca, grew up in Carson Valley and was happy to be back home.
A family outing such as a train ride on a steam engine was something she wanted her toddler daughter and husband to experience.
"It's a great way to spend a day," she said.
Meanwhile, Reno residents Josh and Sarah McNeal made the steam engine trip, saying that it was a near-perfect way to start the summer.
Josh McNeal said the ride was worth the history lesson and fulfilled some of his own experience with trains, having worked for the Durango and Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad in Southwestern Colorado.
"For five dollars you can come out and learn Nevada history and ride a real steam train," he said. "We live only a few minutes away, so we thought we would come out."