Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Museum -- Death Valley Junction CA - Model Railroads on Waymarking.com

This railroad museum features a large model layout of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad as it ran through the Amargosa Valley. The model railroad layout is a work in progress, but the museum is open for tours.

From the website: (visit link)

"We are open in Thursday and Saturday from 9:30am till 4:pm If you want to have a tour with a group of people we do that on another day by appointment. Our phone # is 775-751-4608."

Some history of the Tonopah and Tidewater RR can be found at the Historical Society website here: (visit link)

"HISTORY
The Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad was a desert railroad that flanked the western boundary of Mojave National Preserve and cut across a part of its northwest corner. It was a subsidiary of the Pacific Coast Borax Company, a standard gauge railroad running between Ludlow, California on the Santa Fe Railroad main line to Death Valley Junction and Beatty.

Built by Francis Marion Smith, widely known as “Borax Smith”, the Tonopah & Tidewater began construction in early 1903. With the T&T tracks ending at Gold Center, Nevada the T&T reached into Beatty, Nevada with joint trackage rights with the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad. The T&T also reached Rhyolite, Nevada.

The Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad, from Ludlow, California to Beatty, Nevada was completed in December, 1907, a distance of 169 miles.

T&T Railroad never actually made it to “Tidewater” in southern California, but it did cross the Union Pacific (at Ludlow). The Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad. ceased operation in 1939. After the beginning of World War II, the rails were dismantled for scrap for the war effort.

The rail road ties, which were made of cedar & pine and were not creosoted, they were also used for local building materials such as housing, fencing, etc. The line itself, was abandoned, but much of the former right of way is intact because of the remote areas that it travels through."

Scale: N scale-1:148 What is the herald of the layout? (Is there a featured railroad line(s) for the layout): Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad What is the theme of the layout?: Industrial, Historic, Mining What is the era of the layout? (What time period does the layout depict?): 1920s Is this location handicap accessible?: Yes What type of location is this layout found in? ( Museum, Club, Hobby Shop, Business, Manufacturer,..: Museum Layout Website: [Web Link] Is there an admission fee? If so how much..: Not listed

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Date Logged Log   03/06/2016 Benchmark Blasterz visited it