Nevada Central Railroad
The Nevada Central was a 93 mile narrow gauge line that served Austin and Lander County, Nevada. The Nevada Central was completed in 1880 to link silver mines in the Austin area with the Central Pacific line at Battle Mountain.
The Nevada Central provided Austin with its principal economic link to the outside world until the line was abandoned in 1938.The Nevada Central provided Austin with a direct connection to national rail networks. Prior to its construction, goods were freighted to and from Austin by mule train at exorbitant rates. The first shipment to Austin included merchandise for Gage & Curtis and the Manhattan Company. In October 1880 the mails began to travel over the line, a boon to its profitability.
The Nevada Central came under the control of the Union Pacific Railway and in 1887 it was acquired by New York financier Anson Phelps Stokes and others, who renamed it the Nevada Central Railroad. Stokes had been involved with the line as far back as 1879.
The line prospered during the 1890s but was adversely affected by a mining downturn at the end of the decade.
Over the following decades the Nevada Central experienced mixed fortunes. The introduction of motor cars allowed more cost-effective service, but according to Sharon (Edaburn) Taylor the line led a "marginal existence" for much of the period. In the 1920s stage lines (truck-bus service) developed as a threat, and by the 1930s J. G. Phelps Stokes, who had acquired control of the line from his father, made plans to abandon the line. The fatal decision occurred in September 1937, and the following year the track was taken up and the equipment sold.