Sunrise at Scales. Just moments after the sun crested the hills to the east, a V&T freight charges north past Scales on its morning run to Gold Hill, and ultimately, the mining town of Virginia City.
This location, which is just a few tenths of a mile north of the old station at Scales, is ideal for sunrise silhouettes, although mother nature had other ideas this day. Some may wonder about the significance of this place and why it is called "Scales". In the early days of the V&T, ore cars coming down from the mines at Gold Hill and Virginia City had to be weighed. The V&T located their "scales" at this site, because it was below the southernmost mine shaft in the region. By the late 1880s, the Scales had been moved further south to Moundhouse, but the name of the station stuck. For the rest of the history of the Virginia City Branch, the station at scales still held plenty of significance. It was the primary water stop for the locomotives, being roughly halfway between Carson City and Virginia City. It was also the home of a section crew that cared for this relatively remote section of track. Even today, there is still a siding at scales, and during the tourist season, the new V&T keeps an auxiliary water car here, just in case a passing train should need a top-off.
Landscape photography is difficult due to the challenge of combining good light and good scenery. Good railroad photography enters another level of complexity since it requires the first two while there is a train in view.
