Friday, April 09, 2004 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

On the Right Track

The Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City offers rides on rails built in 1931

The Nevada State Railroad Museum's train platform was built to look like the stations of the past. Photo by Gary Thompson. Museum director Greg Corbin shows a railroad car undergoing remodeling. Photo by Gary Thompson.

Greg Corbin grew up in Sacramento, Calif., just a couple of blocks from the railroad tracks. Fascinated with the trains, Corbin spent a lot of time there, but never thought about a future that would include the romance of the steel machines.

But that's just where Corbin found himself after spending years as a Nevada State Park Ranger at Lake Tahoe. For 25 years, he's been with the state's railroad museums -- there are two in Northern Nevada -- and is director of the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City, overseeing the museum's monthly tourist train excursions. This month's rides will be Saturday.

Corbin didn't start out as a railroad buff, but these days he can walk the museum's historic tracks, built in 1931 for delivering material to the Hoover Dam construction site, and point out the 1931 "date nails" that are still in place in some ties. Date nails help the railroad keep tabs on how long the ties have been in place.

The romance of the rails is alive and well today, Corbin says. "We get a lot of comments from people that this is their first ride on a train. You realize how many people have never had the opportunity to ride a train. One woman has been here every ride we've had with her grandchildren. She said her grandson couldn't sleep the night before, anticipating the train ride."

Departing from the museum station, the train travels 3 1/2 miles west along the historic Boulder Branch Line to Railroad Pass, then returns to the station. Passengers get a view of the El Dorado Valley, views of the River and McCullough Mountain ranges and Mojave Desert plant life and cactuses.

Each ride takes about 45 minutes.

In the future, the rides will extend as far as Wagon Wheel Drive in Henderson, another 2 1/2 miles.

The museum began in 1996 with the building of a large, hangarlike maintenance building used for the refurbishing and mechanical care of the museum's historic Pullman railroad cars dating back to 1911.

Work on the cars -- bought in 1993 from the Heber Valley Railroad, popularly known as the Heber Creeper, in Heber City, Utah -- began in 1999, and included duct work for air conditioning and the installation of ceiling fans in three cars.

Two of the cars have reversible seats found on the original Pullman cars and tinted safety glass windows.

Another car was remodeled as an open-air coach with benches for seating up to 75 passengers.

"The open-air coach is very popular," Corbin says. "People like sitting in an open-air environment."

Yet another car has been designed especially for the handicapped. A lift takes wheelchair-bound passengers up to train level. Inside are chairs instead of benches or regular seating. It's also the only car with restroom facilities.

Built in 1963, the train's locomotive was part of the Union Pacific Railroad.

The station's platform, built to resemble the train platforms of the past, includes restrooms, a small gift shop and ticket window.

In the future, more track will be laid behind the platform and other train cars due to be refurbished soon, such as an old postal car, will be on display. A caboose to be used by the train's conductors and brakemen is being remodeled -- it's scheduled to be added later this year -- as is a dining car that the museum will rent out for weddings and meetings.

Behind the locomotive is a diesel-powered generator car that provides electricity to the cars.

When the museum is up and running full time in 2005, it will provide visitors with exhibitions and public programming that explore the impact of the railroad in the early development of Southern Nevada.

"I get a lot of comments like `What do you have to do to get a job like this?' " Corbin says. "You just have to be in the right place at the right time."

The excursion rides continue May 1-2 during Boulder City's Spring Jamboree; June 12; July 3; Aug. 14; Sept. 11; Oct. 2-3 during the city's Art in the Park event; Nov. 13; and Dec. 4-5. The schedule is subject to change.

Fares are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors (65 and older) and $3 for children 6-11. Children 5 and younger ride free. Group discount rates and special train operations also are available.