"Tunneling" to Virginia City. A V&T freight double-header bursts out of the east portal of the "Yellow Jacket Tunnel", with V&T #29 in the lead, and #18 playing the role of road engine, as the train claws its way through the last mile and a half of the climb to Virginia City.
The "Yellow Jacket Tunnel" pictured here was the 4th of 5 tunnels on the line from Carson City to Virginia City, and there were two more tunnels in Virginia City itself. Alas, only two of the original 7 tunnels are still operational. This one is 465 ft long and is located above Gold Hill Depot. The grade here is 2.1%....but you could probably tell that from the vertical exhaust plume. These locomotives are working pretty hard and not going very fast. On the original V&T, this tunnel was lined with wooden timbers....and of course, most of the original V&T engines were WOOD-BURNERS. Yeah, they burned up the tunnel timbers at least a couple of times back in the day. When this tunnel was reopened for the new V&T in 1987, all of the internal bracing was done with welded steel. They no longer worry about fires on this line, but the exhaust fumes can still get a little intense in there as the train struggles up the hill to VC.
