They've been working on the railroad -- and not getting paid for it. Boulder City's tourist excursion train could not operate without the all-volunteer Friends of the Nevada Southern Railway.
This 30-member group provides the engineer, conductor and two brakemen required to run each trip -- in addition to the car attendants who narrate and enhance the 45-minute round trips.
Behind the scenes, the group also helps restore and maintain the cars.
"We do everything that's required to run a railroad," says the organization's president, Bill Milliron, 65, a former Westinghouse manager and 20-year Army veteran. "We mop floors, we cut brush, we do windows."
Restored and operating since 2004, the Southern Nevada Railway runs five Pullman coaches (circa 1911) approximately four miles west from the station at Yucca Street and back. The tracks were laid by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1931.
Until Dec. 10, the excursion trains depart on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. (The cost is $8 general admission, $7 for seniors and $4 for children 11 and younger.)
So much of the Nevada State Railroad Museum's annual budget of about $350,000 goes to operational costs, there's only enough left over to pay museum director Greg Corbin and one other full-time employee.
"We've got spare parts that we're constantly having to purchase and have on hand," Corbin says, "and we've had such a huge increase in fuel costs this past year, that the entire operation of the train is dependent on volunteers."
The latest Friends project is the refurbishment of a Union Pacific caboose that will eventually bring up the train's rear. The volunteers gutted, sandblasted and repainted it, and are putting in a new floor, air conditioning and seats.
"It's a part of history," Milliron says.
"This particular railroad was the line used for the construction of the Hoover Dam. Not only that, it gives young people and some adults the opportunity to ride on a train who might never have had that opportunity."
The group is filing for nonprofit corporate status, which is required to accept donations.
"But we're always looking for more volunteers," says Milliron.
