Museum Extends Passenger Service on Las Vegas Hoover Dam Railroad

Posted on: October 11, 2024, 05:54h. 

Last updated on: October 11, 2024, 06:45h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Myths.

The return passenger train to Henderson, Nev. from Boulder City experienced a slight delay on Thursday — of 89 years.

The Nevada Railroad Museum’s Union Pacific 844 becomes the first passenger train from Boulder City, Nev. to ever see the Las Vegas Strip. (Image: David Held)

At 5:30 p.m., a passenger train departed Boulder City (home of the Hoover Dam) with a couple dozen exuberant railway aficionados, Nevada State Railroad Museum volunteers, Henderson City Council members and assorted other dignitaries.

It became the first passenger train from Boulder City ever to travel far enough into Henderson to see the Las Vegas Strip. And that’s because the last passenger train to do so ran in 1935, before the Strip existed.

“I felt a tremendous sense of pride and accomplishment,” museum director Christopher MacMahon told Casino.org. “This is something we’ve been trying to do since the museum was founded in 1989, and it helps us build a better museum for people to come and experience the history of our wonderful state.”

Boulder Dash

The Boulder City Line is a 22-mile rail spur opened in 1931 by the Union Pacific Railroad for trains to transport workers, concrete and heavy machinery to the Hoover Dam construction site. It branches off from the main Union Pacific line near Russell Road in Las Vegas and runs through Henderson.

The very first train enters Railroad Pass in 1931. The letters on the locomotive stand for Los Angeles and Salt Lake, the name of the Union Pacific line that once ran through Las Vegas. (Image: UNLV Special Collections)

Passenger service on the spur ceased once dam construction was complete, and freight service stopped after the last generator was delivered in 1961. (In 1962, the final four miles of track leading into the dam were removed and scrapped. The tunnels they traversed to get there are now part of the Historic Railroad Hiking Trail.)

Off the Rails

In 2001, the Nevada State Railroad Museum began running tourist excursion trains, in classic Union Pacific train cars, along the 4.5-mile stretch of the Boulder City Line that it was granted the right to use.

A turbine gets delivered via the Boulder City Line to the Hoover Dam sometime between 1931 and 1935. (Image: UNLV Special Collections)

But the museum’s trains arrived three years too late to make the trip into the heart of Henderson. That’s because the tracks were paved over to widen a street — ironically named Railroad Pass Road — in 1998. (It happens to be the location of the Railroad Pass Casino, Nevada’s oldest continuously operating gambling establishment.)

When Interstate 11 was built in 2018, it included a railroad bridge that reconnected the two severed ends of the railroad spur.

After years of red tape and negotiations, and then waiting out the pandemic, Thursday evening’s train was finally able to make the first trip across that bridge.

The crew got out and celebrated once they reached Paradise Hills Drive.

It’s only a mile or so farther into Henderson than the train used to run, but it’s far enough to see the lights of the entire Las Vegas Strip twinkle 25 miles in the distance.

“This has been our goal for a long time,” MacMahon said. “It’s a long time in the making.”

The crew of Union Pacific 844 celebrates reaching Paradise Hills Drive in Henderson. (Image: Jennifer MacMahon)

The extra mile makes the round trip, at 20-25 mph, about 45 minutes in total. And that’s finally long enough for the museum to start thinking about dinner excursions, like most other US train museums offer. It’s currently restoring a dining car for that purpose.

“And we can always slow down to about 10 mph to make the trip last longer,” MacMahon said.

Engine 844, a diesel electric locomotive built in 1963 and donated by Union Pacific in 1993, crosses a bridge built in 2018 to restore railroad service between Henderson, Nev. and Boulder City. (Image: Jennifer MacMahon)

Sites Trained

MacMahon he says he hopes the museum’s trains will one day make even it farther up the line  — perhaps as far as Russell Road in Las Vegas, where the spur begins. The tracks are all still there, they’re just all currently in use by Union Pacific freight trains.

“It would create a lot of regulatory issues,” MacMahon said. “We’d have to get the City of Henderson and Union Pacific interested in having talks, and we’d need approval from the Federal Railroad Administration.

“That’s not to say we can’t go further in the future, but this is the point where we’ll be for a while, and we’re happy to be here.”

The Nevada State Railroad Museum, at 601 Yucca St. in Boulder City, offers train rides to the public on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 a.m., 12 noon and 2 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults, $6 for children 4-11, and free for children 3 and younger.

For info, click here.