The Nevada Short Line Railway (''Silver Belt Railroad'') was a ,

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

railroad that ran east from Oreana (also known as Nenzel) to the silver mining area of

Rochester, Nevada Rochester was a silver-mining town in Pershing County, Nevada, USA, approximately east of Reno, Nevada, Reno. It is now a ghost town. Lower Rochester is still accessible to visitors, but was largely destroyed by a wildfire in 2012; Upper Roche ...

. The railway terminated near, but did not connect with, the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) in Oreana due to the Nevada Short Line being gauge and the SP being a standard gauge mainline. The railway intended to eventually transition to standard gauge, but this never happened. The railroad started in 1913 as a

sole proprietorship A sole proprietorship, also known as a sole tradership, individual entrepreneurship or proprietorship, is a type of enterprise owned and run by only one person and in which there is no legal distinction between the owner and the business entity. ...

and was incorporated on April 24, 1914. The line only operated for four years. In June 1918, the line was damaged by flooding and the line was abandoned on December 31, 1920.

Terrain and Route

The railway operated from Oreana (Nenzel) which was located along the east bank of the

Humboldt River The Humboldt River is the longest river in the northern and central part of Nevada. It extends in a general east-to-west direction from its headwaters in northern Nevada's Jarbidge Mountains, Jarbidge, Independence Mountains, Independence, and ...

at an elevation of above sea level. The railroad continued east through the desert where it had to cross the western edge of the Humboldt Range near Limerick Canyon. The railway had to climb to an altitude of at Rochester. The steep terrain the necessitated the need for a switchback and a 6% grade.

Locomotives

The Nevada Short Line had two locomotives. Nevada Short Line No. 1 - Baldwin-built (Mogul Type) built in 1879 is on static display with a few cars and rests above all other trains on an elevated track at the California State Railroad Museum in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

. The last time the locomotive was run was in 1939-40 for the Golden Gate International Exposition on daily re-enactments of the 1869

Golden Spike The golden spike (also known as the last spike) is the ceremonial 17.6-Carat (purity), karat gold final Rail spike, spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting t ...

ceremony. The locomotive was originally built for the Hobart Mills Company and was sold to the Nevada Short Line in August 1913. The second engine "Francis," was a 2-truck Heisler locomotive built in 1899 for the Borate and Daggett Railroad and was acquired by the NSL in 1916. It was sold to the Terry Lumber Company at Round Mountain, California.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nevada Short Line Railway Defunct Nevada railroads 3 ft gauge railways in the United States Railway lines closed in 1918 1913 establishments in Nevada 1920 disestablishments in Nevada

Terrain and Route

Locomotives

See also

Notes

References