Question of the Day - 27 June 2019

“We have no knowledge of a derailment,” says a spokesman for the Las Vegas Railroad Society (LVRS). But besides that, you're correct.

The two-car narrow-gauge train ran in a loop around the property of the Tropicana Express (formerly the Ramada Express), Laughlin's only hotel-casino on the inland side of S. Casino Drive. Riding the little choo-choo, an open passenger car, was free; it was pulled by a 4-4-0 diesel locomotive, the Number 7 Gambler, a replica of the Number 12 Genoa from the old Virginia and Truckee line that ran from Virginia City to Carson City and Reno during the height of the Comstock boom in northern Nevada (1870s). The Number 11 Lady Luck was used as a spare. 

In April 2012, the whole line -- rolling stock, track, and all -- was donated to the Las Vegas Railroad Society, which also received an in-kind donation by Budget Truck Rental; Budget heavily discounted all the trucks needed to transport the train cars and tracks from Laughlin to Las Vegas.

You can see photographs of the painstaking process at http://www.lasvegasrailroadsociety.org/TropicanaXDonation.php. A cowboy statue from the Express fell and was reduced to junk, during the move, but everything else made it to the Railroad Society safe and sound.

The whole shortline sat in storage in Las Vegas until around a year ago, while the LVRS raised some funds and negotiated a deal with North Las Vegas officials to install the track and railcars in a corner of Craig Ranch Regional Park at E. Craig Rd. and N. Commerce Street, where it can be seen today in the southeast corner of the park. The LVRS is trying to achieve its $2.5 million goal so that it can extend the track two miles, offer rides to the public, and build a railroad museum.