Brian Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Agree that the Sierra with all its movies and TV
> exposure is famous but the V & T is in the same
> category with its history, real or Hollywood
> versions and which has been the subject of
> numerous books and magazine articles. Glad its
> back!
>
> All the rest can't equal this publicity especially
> to a non US resident.

Yeah, well, I guess as a disclaimer, I'm glad the V&T is back too, I am well known as a critic but mostly limited to methods used to build it that are illegal under state and federal government code. Now that I think about it, the original railroads were a bit dodgy in the financing and practices, so there is historical precedent. Theft via threats of eminent domain has a long history.

Having said that, perhaps there's a big gap in my knowledge. Certainly V&T equipment was used in everything from Harvey Girls to Union Pacific to Great Locomotive Chase. BUT none of those stories were about the V&T. Nobody watching any of the numerous movies that used V&T equipment would know about the V&T. Yes, Lucius Beebe did a fine job promoting the railroad, but to the world at large he's an obscure writer.

Here's where I may be a little ignorant, I can't think of more than one significant movie filmed on V&T tracks, and that was decades before the women's channel filmed next years Christmas special up there. Yeah, there was a low-budget space-alien-western shot there a year or two ago.

I confess I didn't watch much Bonanza, but I don't recall the V&T being that prominent in the show. Was it, and are the world's ideas of American railroads informed by this one show?

I would expect someone watching Union Pacific to know about UP. Most other movies using V&T equipment had fictional railroads or railroads in another geographical area.

So, to finally get to my point, aside from Carson City, from what media would the average European learn about the V&T more than any other railroad? Doesn't knowledge of the CA Gold Rush hugely dwarf knowledge of the Comstock Lode? Most people don't even know Mark Twain spent his formative years there.

Sorry to go a little too long, perhaps I am making up for my ignorance with too many words. As someone who knows V&T history and has studied original sources closely over the years, perhaps I am missing something obvious.

Thanks