On September 1, 1929 the Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad’s existence came to an end, when it finally ceased to exist and was entirely absorbed by the Southern Pacific. Its demise was slow, and for its owners it must have been a strange process. Its decline dated back to 1914, the last year the railroad made a profit. What was started like a death knell came in 1917, when the NCO sold its trackage rights from Hackstaff (now Herlong) to Reno to the Western Pacific Railroad. Without its connection to Reno, it became a very isolated feeder line to the Southern Pacific Railroad.
In 1925, the Moran family, owners of the NCO, reached an agreement with the Southern Pacific to sell the line. It was a slow process. It would take nearly a year before the Southern Pacific acquired the trackage rights. In 1927, starting at Wendel, the Southern Pacific began to broad gauge the NCO’s narrow gauge line north. One would have thought NCO would have dissolved, but NCO was a peculiar outfit. What really gets confusing is its financial statement. In 1928 the NCO showed an operating revenue of $510,478.37 and a net expenses, including taxes, of $848,262,25.