Hammering uphill at Scales. The former McCloud Railway #18 hammers uphill on the reconstructed Virginia City Line, passing the historic location of the station known as "Scales." In the early days of the V&T, loaded 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 Line, 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. For those who are into railroad archeology, the concrete footings of the old wooden water tank are still present at this location, and can be found amid the sagebrush, on the west side of the track....on the right side of this particular image.
