Under a desert sun that has presided over the rise and fall of many a grand enterprise, an epoch-defying whistle sounded across the Nevada plains. The wheels of history turned once more as the Union Pacific 844, cradled within the nurturing hands of the Nevada Railroad Museum, embarked on a voyage etched in nostalgia and ambition. A select congregation of railway enthusiasts, museum volunteers, distinguished city council members from Henderson, and various dignitaries from Nevada gathered in Boulder City—a stone’s throw from the iconic Hoover Dam—for a journey swathed in historical significance.
As the clock struck half-past five on a Thursday teeming with anticipation, the 844 rumbled to life, its carriages filled with the eager whispers of passengers witnessing a moment 89 years in the making. The train, destined for Henderson, was on a mission to break a near-century of stillness, to glimpse the shimmering mirage that is the Las Vegas Strip from the heart of Henderson—a vision unrealized since a time before the Strip’s very existence.
At the helm of this quest was museum director Christopher MacMahon, who, speaking with the weight of years of relentless pursuit, shared a sentiment of profound pride and fulfillment. “This is something we’ve been trying to do since the museum was founded in 1989,” he confided to Casino.org. His voice conveyed an awareness that history was not just being recalled but rewritten, “and it helps us build a better museum for people to come and experience the history of our wonderful state.”
The Union Pacific constructed the 22-mile Boulder City Line in 1931, a steel artery that once pulsed with the comings and goings of workers, concrete, and the heavy machinery vital to birthing the Hoover Dam. The Logistics of the past saw this line abandoned following the dam’s completion. Passenger service withered away, and freight movements ceased with the delivery of the dam’s final generator in 1961. The very tracks that threaded through tunnels to reach their grand destination were disassembled a year later, their right of way transformed into the Historic Railroad Hiking Trail.
Twisting through time, the Nevada State Railroad Museum revived the line’s spirit in 2001 by granting excursions a brief 4.5-mile stretch of life on classic Union Pacific carriages. Yet, the irony of history paved the tracks over in 1998, transforming them into the tarmac of Railroad Pass Road, right where Nevada’s oldest continuously operating gambling establishment, the Railroad Pass Casino, stakes its claim.
In a serendipitous turn of engineering fortune, the construction of Interstate 11 in 2018 birthed a bridge that stitched the severed ends of the railroad back together. After years locked in bureaucratic limbo and beset by the unforeseen pause of a global pandemic, Thursday’s endeavor crossed the bridge into new yet familiar territory, rewarding the crew with panoramic promises of the Las Vegas Strip from Paradise Hills Drive.
“This has been our goal for a long time,” MacMahon reflected, as joyous celebration marked their arrival. “It’s a long time in the making.” The train now progressed just enough to gift passengers with sights once denied, the entire Las Vegas Strip winking at them from a 25-mile distance. Now, the journey assumes new potential, with plans stirring for dinner excursions, a nostalgic nod to the traditional offerings of U.S. train museums. Engine 844, now a beautifully restored locomotive, encapsulates the bridge across eras.
Yet, the march of time never stills, and MacMahon harbors greater dreams. His eyes set on the origin of the line at Russell Road, he muses over the tracks that endure, currently in service of freight trains. Though the future is fraught with regulatory tangles and necessary partnerships, the spirit of the Nevada State Railroad Museum burns bright. “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.”
This beacon of Nevada’s rich past, situated at 601 Yucca Street in Boulder City, now extends an invitation to the public. Weekend voyages at 10 a.m., 12 noon, and 2 p.m. await those yearning to brush shoulders with history, with admission priced to make memories: $12 for adults, $6 for children aged 4 to 11, and free for the youngest historians, aged 3 and under. The wheels of the 844, echoing the grandeur of times gone by, beckon to all who wish to ride along the rails of history, to the heartbeat of Nevada’s enduring legacy.
