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The Trip to Cedar City plus Southern Nevada Railway Museum, Valley of Fire and more 5/2/2019

This year's trip to the National Railway Historical Society convention would be almost a local trip since it is being held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Robin Bowers and I would drive and meet the Alkires in Salt Lake City. We made our reservations at the Radisson Hotel and I contacted the Heber Valley Railroad and the Lagoon Amusement Park telling both groups we were writing stories. They said 'yes' but the Amusement Park said that I would have to pay for parking. I worked at my job up until the day before, said goodbye to everybody then went home and packed.

Robin Bowers hit freeway traffic due to a six-car accident on CA Highway 55 so he was delayed 45 minutes in arriving at my house. Once his car was in my driveway, we loaded up my Ford Focus and headed out via Interstate 5 to CA 57 to CA 60 to Interstate 15. We caught up to an eastbound train near Mannix so we exited at Afton Road and drove to a photo location that I knew, and waited for the first train of the trip to come to us.

Union Pacific 7464 East came by our photo location at the west end of Afton Canyon. We drove back out to Interstate 15 and headed north to our first stop of the trip at Boulder City.

The Nevada State Railway Museum is an agency of the Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs. A well as having a number of locomotives on display, the museum offers forty-five minute passenger excursions on a seven mile line from Boulder City to Henderson, part of a line originally laid in 1931 for construction activities at the Hoover Dam. The state obtained the tracks and right of way from the Union Pacific in 1985. There are also cab rides and one hour sessions operating a diesel engine.

My first picture here would be of an old friend.

Union Pacific GP30 844 built in 1962 by EMD. It last operated in service in the North Little Rock, Arkansas area during mid-November 1988. The following year, when it was donated to the Nevada State Railroad Museum, it was the last GP30 retired by the UP. It now hauls passenger excursions along 4 miles of track running from the Boulder City Station to Railroad Pass. The retirement allowed UP's operating FEF-3 4-8-4 steam locomotive to return to its original operating number, 844. It had been renumbered to 8444 in 1962 to avoid conflict with new GP30s 800 class.

Pacific Lumber 2-8-2 35 built by Baldwin in 1935. In 1972, the locomotive was sold to the Promontory chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. It was transferred to the Wasatch Railroad & Museum Foundation and operated on the Heber Creeper Scenic Railroad during the 1970s. Some time during the early 1980s, 35 was taken out of service and placed in storage, where it remained until 1993, when it was sold to the Nevada State Railroad Museum.

Jackass & Western 25 ton switcher L-2 built by General Electric in 1943. It operated at the Atomic Energy Commission Nevada Test Site during the 1960s and 1970s, amongst other duties, hauling nuclear powered rocket engines from site to site.

Union Pacific 2-8-0 284 built by Baldwin in 1907 as Union Pacific 264. Renumbered 6264, this was one of the last steam locomotives used by the Union Pacific. Taken out of service in early 1950, it was stored in La Salle, Colorado and then donated to the Sons of the Utah Pioneers in 1959. In 1981, it was relocated to Heber City, Utah and was bought by the Nevada State Railroad Museum in 1993.

Ellsmere Private Business Car built by the Wagner Palace Car Company in 1899. It was the last car built by this company before it became part of the Pullman Company. Missouri Pacific bought the car and used it on the Texas and Pacific until 1960. The car was later acquired by museums in the central Texas area, then purchased by a Las Vegas casino owner and remained in his care for several years, being donated to the Nevada Southern Railway in 2002.

Union Pacific Railway Post Office car 2314, built as Oregon Short Line baggage-RPO car 524 in 1911.

Interior view of the RPO car.

Davenport 30 ton switcher built in 1936 for the Department of the Interior then transferred to the Bureau of Reclamation and worked on the ten mile line connecting Boulder City with Hoover Dam.

Union Pacific wooden caboose 3505 built in 1892 as Oregon Railway and Navigation Company 1874.

Jackass & Western 80 ton switcher L-3 built by General Electric in 1964. It worked at a US Naval Station as 65-0550 before being transferred to the Atomic Energy Commission Nevada Test Site where it hauled trains carrying nuclear rocket motors between test stations at the site. When the program became dormant, the locomotive was "mothballed". The name Jackass & Western comes from "Jackass Flats", one of the locations in which the test site was located.

Southern Nevada Railroad Museum tamper 97 that has been converted to a speeder.

Los Angeles & Salt Lake coach 1342 built by Pullman in 1914 as Oregon Short Line 251.

Covered open air car.

Western Pacific caboose 449 built 1956 by International Car and Foundry.

United States Army H12-44 1855 built by Fairbanks Morse in 1950.

DRYX {Dynamic Rail Preservation} F40PHR 231, which is privately owned. Formerly Amtrak 231, it started work out of Chicago, but spent most of its life working out of Los Angeles, hauling the San Diegan, Pacific Surfliner, Coast Starlight, Cascades, Capitol Corridor, San Joaquin, Sunset Limited and Southwest Chief. It was retired in 2001.

Museum scene.

Nevada Southern caboose 25641, originally Union Pacific 25641, built in 1967 by International Car.

NSRM coach 602 originally Southern Pacific Harriman coach 514 built in 1916.

NSRM coach 603, originally Southern Pacific 2041, built by Pullman in the 1910's. It was sold to the Arcata & Mad River Railroad in 1960 then to the Heber Creeper in Heber City, Utah in 1983 and purchased by the Nevada Southern Railway in 1993.

NSRM open air car 501, built by Pullman in 1914 as Union Pacific dining car 356. It was rebuilt to be an open air car.

NSRM dining car 4813 built by American Car and Foundry in 1949. It was retired in December 1971 and sold to the Heber Creeper in Heber City Utah and used then until 1989 when it was sold the Nevada State Railroad Museum in 1992.

NSRM power car 102.

Union Pacific GP30 844.

Union Pacific GP30 844 and trainset for excursions.

A narrow gauge diesel.

Unknown Union Pacific coach.

Union Pacific coach under restoration.

DRYX {Dynamic Rail Preservation} SDP40F 644, privately owned.

Track speeder. I walked back and thanked the manager for having us here today then Robin and I drove over to A&W for a hot dog and a root beer and afterwards headed to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

This a U.S. national recreation area in southeastern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. Operated by the National Park Service, it follows the Colorado River corridor from the westernmost boundary of Grand Canyon National Park to just north of the cities of Laughlin, Nevada and Bullhead City, Arizona. It includes all of the eponymous Lake Mead as well as the smaller Lake Mohave – reservoirs on the river created by Hoover Dam and Davis Dam, respectively – and the surrounding desert terrain and wilderness. Formation of Lake Mead began in 1935, less than a year before Hoover Dam was completed. The area surrounding Lake Mead was protected a bird refuge in 1933 and was later established as the Boulder Dam Recreation Area in 1936. The name was changed to Lake Mead National Recreation Area in 1947. In 1964, the area was expanded to include Lake Mohave and its surrounding area and became the first National Recreation Area to be designated as such by the U.S. Congress.

We paid the fee and started our drive through the park on North Shore Drive.

First view of Lake Mead.

Further down the road, our second view of Lake Mead.

The Bowl of Fire.

I love the geography of Nevada.

More scenes from along our route.

Redstone.

The north end of Lake Mead. From here we drove to Valley of Fire State Park.

Valley of Fire State Park is a public recreation and nature preservation area covering nearly 46,000 acres located 16 miles south of Overton, Nevada. The state park derives its name from red sandstone formations, the Aztec Sandstone, which formed from shifting sand dunes 150 million years ago. These features, which are the centerpiece of the park's attractions, often appear to be on fire when reflecting the sun's rays. It is Nevada's oldest state park, as commemorated with Nevada Historical Marker #150. It was designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1968.

Valley of Fire is located 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas, at an elevation between 1,320-3,009 feet. It abuts the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on the east at the Virgin River confluence and lies in a 4 by 6 mile basin.

Complex uplifting and faulting of the region, followed by extensive erosion, have created the present landscape. The rough floor and jagged walls of the park contain brilliant formations of eroded sandstone and sand dunes more than 150 million years old. Other important rock formations include limestones, shales, and conglomerates.

Prehistoric users of the Valley of Fire included the Ancient Pueblo Peoples, also known as the Anasazi, who were farmers from the nearby fertile Moapa Valley. Their approximate span of occupation has been dated from 300 BC to 1150 AD. Their visits probably involved hunting, food gathering, and religious ceremonies, although scarcity of water would have limited their stay. Fine examples of rock art (petroglyphs) left by these ancient peoples can be found at several sites within the park.

The creation of Valley of Fire State Park began with transfer of 8,760 acres of federal land to the state at Nevada in 1931. Work on the park was initiated by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. During the years of their employment, which continued into the early 1940s, the CCC workers built campgrounds, trails, stone visitor cabins, ramadas, and roads. The park opened in 1934; it achieved official designation by the state legislature in 1935.

The Valley of Fire State Park has a dry and warm climate typical of the Mojave Desert in which it lies. Winters are mild with daytime temperatures ranging from 54 F degrees to 75 F degrees and over night lows in the mid 30 F degrees to mid 40 F degrees Storms moving east from the Pacific Ocean occasionally bring rain during winter months. Daily summer highs usually range from 100 F degrees to 115 F degreesand on occasion may reach near 120 F degrees. Thunderstorms from the Southwestern Monsoon can produce heavy showers during summer. The average annual precipitation is 6.50".

Valley of Fire Road is the main road accessing and traversing through the park. The 10.5-mile section of the road between the east and west entrances of the park was officially designated as a Nevada Scenic Byway on June 30, 1995.

The park has a visitors center plus facilities for picnicking, camping and hiking. Petroglyphs are seen throughout the park, with Mouse's Tank and Atlatl Rock two areas in particular with numerous petroglyphs that are relatively easily accessible. The park also preserves three stone cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

We drove by the east gate then stopped to take some pictures.

Pictures take near Elephant Rock.

Two views along the road.

These are from near Cabin/Lone Rocks.

Views along the road.

The Seven Sisters.

More views along the road. We went to the Visitor's Center and paid our fee then drove the White Dome Road with several stops along the way.

Mouse's Tank.

Rainbow Vista.

Parking lot 1.

Fire Wave.

From along the road. Next we came to the White Dome.

The White Dome area.

Parking lot 2. We then took Fire Canyon Road for our last pictures here.

Views from Fire Canyon Road. We then drove out of the park through Overton, where the Union Pacific still has an active branchline, up north to Interstate 15 and straight to Cedar City. We fuelled the car, stopped at Subway for dinner then checked into the Knights Inn and called it a night; a very good first day of the trip.

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