The Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad was a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

built by

William A. Clark William Andrews Clark Sr. (January 8, 1839March 2, 1925) was an American politician and entrepreneur, involved with mining, banking, and railroads. Biography Clark was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He moved with his family to Iowa in 1 ...

that ran northwest from a connection with the mainline of the

San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad The Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was a rail company in California, Nevada, and Utah in the United States, that completed and operated a railway line between its namesake cities (Salt Lake City, Utah and Los Angeles, California), via Las Ve ...

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

to the gold mines at Goldfield. The SPLA&SL railroad later became part of the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

and serves as their mainline between Los Angeles and

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

History

In April 1905, Clark made a verbal agreement with

Francis Marion Smith Francis Marion Smith (February 2, 1846 – August 27, 1931) (once known nationally and internationally as "Borax Smith" and "The Borax King" ) was an American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert, the San Francisc ...

that Smith could build a rail line to his

borax Borax is a salt (ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular form, ...

operations at

Lila C Lila C (also known as Ryan or Old Ryan) is a former settlement in Inyo County, California. It was located southwest of Death Valley Junction, at an elevation of 2562 feet (781 m). Borax Company The settlement was connected by rail to the Lila C ...

connecting with the

at Las Vegas. After Smith's men had already graded for tracks, his workers received a no trespassing order that they were not allowed to connect with Clark's rail. Clark had apparently changed his mind, and subsequently, he laid his own rail on the line graded by Smith's men. In response, Smith started his own competing railroad, the Tonopah and Tidewater to the Goldfield boomtowns in direct competition with Clark. Rhyolite Station July 2006

The Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad was incorporated on September 22, 1905. On March 1, 1906, the track was completed between Las Vegas and Indian Springs. By June 30, 1906, the line was over 50% completed (), reaching Rose's Well. In December 1906 the tracks reached

Rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...

. Finally, in November 1907 the entire line was in operation between Las Vegas and Goldfield. The northern end of the line ( Beatty - Goldfield) was only in operation from 1908 - 1914. That of track was removed during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The Las Vegas & Tonopah continued to serve the Bullfrog Mining District at Beatty until 1917/1918. By 1919, the remaining of track was abandoned and scrapped.

Operations

Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad 1910 train schedule

In 1906 the trip from Las Vegas to Beatty took 6 hours. Trains operated daily until February 1, 1917, and then became tri-weekly until abandonment. The LV&T depot at Rhyolite still remains. It was constructed in 1909 at a cost of $130,000 ().

Locomotives

The railroad primarily used "Ten Wheeler"

4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abse ...

and Consolidation (

2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. ...

) type locomotives, primarily manufactured by

Brooks Brooks may refer to: Places ;Antarctica *Cape Brooks ;Canada *Brooks, Alberta ;United States * Brooks, Alabama * Brooks, Arkansas *Brooks, California *Brooks, Georgia * Brooks, Iowa * Brooks, Kentucky * Brooks, Maine * Brooks Township, Michigan ...

and

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

. The railroad's first four locomotives were purchased in used condition. The railroad would later purchase 12 additional new locomotives. Upon abandonment of the railroad in 1917/1918, these locomotives were sold to the

Northwestern Pacific Railroad The Northwestern Pacific Railroad is a regional shortline railroad utilizing a stretch of the 271 mile mainline between Schellville and Windsor with freight and Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) commuter trains. Formerly, it was a regi ...

, the

Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad The Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was a rail company in California, Nevada, and Utah in the United States, that completed and operated a railway line between its namesake cities (Salt Lake City, Utah and Los Angeles, California), via Las Ve ...

and the

San Diego and Arizona Railway The San Diego and Arizona Railway was a short line U.S. railroad founded by entrepreneur John D. Spreckels, and dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" by engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges involved. It linked San Diego, ...

. When the LV&T merged with the

Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad The Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad (BGRR) was a railroad lying just inside and about midway of the southwestern State line of Nevada. It was incorporated in 1905 to provide an outlet from the mining section near Beatty, Nevada, Beatty to the north ov ...

in 1914, it also acquired its 6 steam locomotives, involving two

0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...

switcher locomotives, two

passenger locomotives, and two

freight locomotives.

Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Locomotive Roster ''Bullfrog'' is a common English language term to refer to large, aggressive frogs, regardless of species. Examples of bullfrogs include: Frog species America *Helmeted water toad (''Calyptocephalella gayi''), endemic to Chile * American bullfr ...

Preservation

The Los Angeles Live Steamers group owned an old wooden passenger car which they had named "Tonopah" and labeled it as an ex-Las Vegas & Tonopah car. However, it has been confirmed it was actually from the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad, and never actually worked on the LV&T.

Route

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

(MP 0.0) *Tule * Corn Creek *Owens * Indian Springs (MP 43.0) *Charleston, possibly named after nearby Mount Charleston, 4th highest peak in Nevada. * Amargosa (MP 74.0) *Cañon *Rosewell (Rose's Well) (MP 100.0) *Chloride * Beatty MP (118.4) *

(MP 123.4), with spur to Montgomery-Shoshone Mine. *Original *Mud Springs *Midway * Bonnie Claire *Wagner *Stonewall *Ralston, possibly named after Ralston Valley. *Red Rock *Milltown *Columbia * Goldfield (MP 196.9)

References

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Las Vegas Tonopah Railroad Defunct Nevada railroads History of Las Vegas History of the Mojave Desert region History of Clark County, Nevada History of Nye County, Nevada Amargosa Desert Tonopah, Nevada Predecessors of the Union Pacific Railroad Railway companies established in 1905 Railway companies disestablished in 1918 1905 establishments in Nevada 1918 disestablishments in Nevada Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles