Briefly

Carson City

Locomotives steaming up at Railroad Museum

The Nevada State Railroad Museum will operate a special steam-up of historic Virginia & Truckee Railroad equipment Sunday. The train operates at 40-minute intervals with the first departure at 10 a.m. and the last at 4 p.m.

Fares are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors 65 and up and $3 for kids 6 to 11. Those under age 6 ride free.

For information, call 687-6953.

Hospital giving presentation on new medical center

The Carson City Senior Citizens Center will offer a presentation by Jeri Shields of Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center from 10-11 a.m. Tuesday in the Tahoe Conference Room.

All seniors are welcome. For information, call 883-0703.

Gold Hill

Celtic/American jam session debuts in Gold Hill

The Ancient Order of Comstock Fiddlers and Friends (no members, no elections, no dues, few rules) will be holding jam sessions once a month at the Gold Hill Hotel in Gold Hill. The first session will be from 7- 9 p.m. Monday.

The guidelines (feel free to make suggestions):

1. Celtic American tune session - not for singing.

2. Acoustic. String instruments, recorder and penny whistle.

3. Melody instruments encouraged - they don't need a thousand guitars or bodhrans.

4. Come prepared to play without sheet music for the first half. Second half will be devoted to handing out new music for others - to tunes you already know well. Bring music and a tune.

5. They will be developing a "favorites" list.

6. They go around the circle and each person suggests a tune in turn.

Reno

Desert Research Institute hosts its first open house

For the first time ever, The Desert Research Institute is opening its doors to the public for an open house - called DRI Day - from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Visitors can take a self-guided tour to see, feel and experience how DRI's cutting-edge science is improving how people all over the world live and breathe.

All ages can take part in demonstrations with DRI scientists, who will show and tell about their research. Demonstrations include how cloud seeding works; life in ice, deserts and extreme environments; what vegetation and pack rats can tell us about the past 12,000 years; how ice cores plucked from Antarctica and Greenland shed light on global climate change; how increased carbon dioxide levels affect ecology as seen in DRI's one-of-a-kind greenhouse; a 3-D visualization demonstration that shows science in a different light and the opportunity to hop into the DRI research boat and learn about DRI's work at Lake Tahoe.

DRI is located at 2215 Raggio Parkway in Reno. Call 673-7313.

Fall-back festival celebrates harvest

Fall back into old-fashioned family fun at Bartley Ranch Regional Park's traditional Fall Back Into Time Fall Festival from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.

Fall Back Into Time is a free family oriented harvest celebration featuring horse-drawn hay wagon rides, bluegrass and accordion music, parade of scarecrows, pumpkin patch, harvest games, tours of the historic Huffaker one-room schoolhouse, cakewalk and plenty of home-style barbecue and homemade baked goodies.

Bartley Ranch Regional Park is at 6000 Bartley Ranch Road in Reno.

Call 828-6612.