SPR: Lurching South

Scratch-Pad Ramblings:
Lurching South - The Saga of the Nevada Western

I warned you watching train videos and reading train books can be a bad idea.



Yet another train layout concept has been born; a line running from Nowhere, Nevada, to Where-in-the-heck-are-we, California.

Actually, there would be a point to this line; and, it would be connecting actual towns. I actually wouldn't be doing much grading of new line.

Ninety years ago, the railroad map of Nevada looked considerably different. (From Nevada Northern & the Railroads of White Pine County.) A plethora of exotic-sounding shortlines ran down the California-Nevada border, connecting Reno with Las Vegas: Virginia & Truckee ("Queen of the Shortlines"), Carson & Colorado, Tonopah & Goldield, Bullfrog & Goldfield, Las Vegas & Tonopah, Tonopah & Tidewater...

But connecting Nevada's two biggest cities is not the reason for their existence; at the time they were built, Las Vegas was a tiny tank town on the Union Pacific. No, these roads were built to move minerals to market. The last great American gold rush occurred in the 1900's; and they railroads were laid to the gold camps as fast as they could find the rails.

Most of the roads disappeared during or immediately after World War Two; FDR's ban on precious metal mining had destroyed the weak economies of the surviving mining towns. The V&T managed to hang on until 1950, until it, too, was scrapped.

But this free-lancing stuff is great for grim situations like this.

By a fortunate coincidence of history, the lines survived well into the late twentieth century. The oil wells near Tonopah proved more prolific than expected, and the mineral wealth of the high desert continued to fill the pockets of high desert industrialists. And explorations into the Eastern Sierra brought more - more opportunities (lumber), more traffic (more oil & minerals), and more business. And as Las Vegas grew, so did traffic from the north.

With the growth of Las Vegas into a booming business city as well as a resort destination (thanks to a business-friendly tax regime), the Western Pacific saw an opportunity for a piece of the action.
This is obviously just a developing concept, and needs a lot of work yet. But what do you think so far?

For inspiration and more information:
Nevada State Railroad Museum
Virginia & Truckee Railroad
Nevada Northern & the Railroads of White Pine County
Tonopah & Tidewater - A Study
Great Basin Research
Gordon Osmundson Photographs

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