Your Hand on the Throttle. The Virginia & Truckee Railway's high-stepping 10-wheeler passes the Nevada State Railroad Museum's Water Tower, with a young lad looking on. Perhaps some day, he'll be behind the throttle, like the lucky student who is handling this train. The operation you see here is the conclusion of one of the museum's "Your Hand is on the Throttle" sessions, which are typically conducted during scheduled steam-up weekends. For a fee of several hundred dollars, a student will receive an hour of classroom instruction, followed by an hour of hands-on experience, operating the 1905-vintage V&T classic on the museum's trackage. Although the line doesn't go anywhere, the tracks around the museum grounds include 2% grades up and down, so the student gets a pretty good workout maintaining good control. Although the program does not normally include running with a train, a student who demonstrates reasonable proficiency at the end of his/her hour may be allowed to stay in the cab for a few extra minutes, and participate in picking up the museum's excursion consist for the day's regular operation. During my visit, I saw several students who were permitted to not only pick up the train, but also make a couple of trips around the museum loop with it. The "Your Hand" program is a great opportunity to run a no-kidding survivor of the legendary V&T, while under the tutelage of a great group of experienced instructors. As they departed the cab at the end of their runs, each one of those students had an ear to ear grin that probably lasted the rest of the day.
