Nevin W. Wilson NevinW

The Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad is my 10 x 18 HO depiction of southern Nevada mining railroads circa 1915.  Starting with the founding of Tonopah in 1900, the discovery of significant mineral deposits led to the development of a series of towns including Goldfield and Rhyolite south of Tonopah. This led to a series of railroads moving into the area including the Tonopah & Goldfield RR and the Bullfrog Goldfield RR from the north, the Las Vegas & Tonopah RR from Las Vegas and the Tonopah & Tidewater RR coming north from Ludlow, CA.  All converged on Goldfield in one way or another.  As the ore played out, these railroads first consolidated and then gradually shut down with the T&G finally shutting down after world war two.  Myrick's Railroads of Nevada as well as Phil Serpico's Tonopah and Tidewater and Las Vegas and Tonopah books are the references I have used to build this layout. 

My railroad specifically attempts to depict the area around Goldfield and can be considered a point to point switching layout using the Springdale track as the staging area.  By 1916 there was only one mixed train per day that gradually worked it's way to Goldfield and then returned home.  It was essentially "T&T all the way".  So operations will consist of the train switching the various mines and businesses while the passengers gradually make it to their destinations.  Locomotives are mostly 4-6-0's and 2-8-0's and are mostly modified Bachmann.  Cars are from from MDC and Labelle.  

Modeling the Maryland Midland Railroad circa 2006

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Nevin W. Wilson NevinW

Here is a track plan.

20Nevada.JPG 

The layout is housed in a one car garage in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Modeling the Maryland Midland Railroad circa 2006

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Nevin W. Wilson NevinW

Springdale Mining and Milling Co.

ringdale.JPG Here is the town of Springdale, NV with the Springdale milling & Milling Co in the back and Bullfrog Goldfield #12 with a T&T combine in front of the depot.

 

 

 

Modeling the Maryland Midland Railroad circa 2006

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Nevin W. Wilson NevinW

Bonnie Claire, NV

Here is the depot at Bonnie Claire, Nevada.

20Claire.JPG 

Modeling the Maryland Midland Railroad circa 2006

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Nevin W. Wilson NevinW

Goldfield, Mercantile Co. in Goldfield, NV

Here is part of the business district in Goldfield, NV. 

chantile.JPG 

Modeling the Maryland Midland Railroad circa 2006

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Nevin W. Wilson NevinW

Goldfield Enginehouse

Here is the engine house in Goldfield with T&T 9 and 10 inside.  %20house.JPG 

 

Modeling the Maryland Midland Railroad circa 2006

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Neil Erickson NeilEr

Inserting images

Since this is such an interesting concept and railroad,I would love to see the images. Cut &Paste does not work on this sir so use the image icon to upload, Scale, and rotate (if necessary) before “Inserting”. 

Hope that helps. 

Neil Erickson, Hawai’i 

My Blogs

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Nevin W. Wilson NevinW

LV&T depot at Goldfield

Here is the LV&T depot in Goldfield.  I found what is left of it during my last trip to Goldfield.  Now it is just rubble.  

IMG-0614.JPG 

 

Modeling the Maryland Midland Railroad circa 2006

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Nevin W. Wilson NevinW

Can you see the images now?

I re-did it using your instructions.  Thanks.  

Modeling the Maryland Midland Railroad circa 2006

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Sugar Beet Guy

Excellent Backdrops

Excellent backdrops!  Photos, I assume.  Homemade or commercial?  Very nice job on modeling and details.

George Booth
Director of Everything, The New Great Western Railway
http://users.frii.com/gbooth/Trains/index.htm

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Sn2modeler

trackplan image still missing

Pictures of layout look great.  However, I do not see the trackplan image.

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Sn2modeler

I see the plan now

I see the plan now....Very nice, simple and probably a fun layout to operate with a couple of operators...

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Nevin W. Wilson NevinW

Tonopah & Tidewater prototype information.

Here are a couple of websites that have photographs and information about the prototype railroads.  Compared to most railroads of the period, there is very little available.  

http://www.donwinslow.net/Historic.html

http://www.ttrr.org

Modeling the Maryland Midland Railroad circa 2006

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Neil Erickson NeilEr

Excellent!

Thanks for posting. What a well done layout. Models and backdrop are terrific. 

Neil Erickson, Hawai’i 

My Blogs

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tjlawler

Nice

Looks great. Thanks for sharing your railroad.

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Eric Hansmann Eric H.

Layout

Nevin, your layout works looks great. I get parched just looking at your images. I look forward to additional updates!

Eric

 

 

Eric Hansmann
Contributing Editor, Model Railroad Hobbyist

Follow along with my railroad modeling:
http://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/

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gogebic

Nice detail and perspective.

Nice detail and perspective. Fine weathering on the sheet metal.

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skyshooter

Wow, I'm drooling here!

Wow, I'm drooling here! Beautiful layout!!!!

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ChrisS

Nevin, I've seen your posts

Nevin,

I've seen your posts here and there on different forums the past few years and I'm always very impressed by your layout. Looks like it's continuing to get better and better! My own plans are to model a fictional narrow gauge shortline in southeastern Utah a few years earlier than your setting, but the Nevada Central and Eureka & Palisade are two of my major influences so I always enjoy seeing models of early Nevada.

Please keep posting more!

Chris

valley20.jpg 

Freelancing 1907 Southern Utah in Sn3

http://redrocknarrowgauge.blogspot.com/

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RangerRyan

Wonderful depiction of my

Wonderful depiction of my favorite portion of the Bonanza roads, very partial to Sprigdale as I once lived there...and you've done it justice. May I share/repost some of your images? RR
R-R

Modeling western desert railroads in HO-scale (Std, HOn3, HOn30, Hon2), in residency at Beatty, NV Museum & Historical Society.
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UpFan951

Beautiful Layout

Really enjoyed your post and pictures of your layout. Really nice modeling and the backdrop pictures really help to bring it alive. I went up to Rhyolite and walked around the depot there, beautiful building. Looking forward to seeing more pictures of your layout.

I recently moved to Pahrump, NV and would love to see your layout someday. Do you ever invite visitors? I am always trying to find out more things about local history and railroading where I live.

- Scott

I don't want to say I'm old and worn out.....But I make sure I'm nowhere near the curb on Trash Day!

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Joe Atkinson IAISfan

Beautiful

Beautiful modeling and photography Nevin!  Your photo backdrops really bring a "black & white" era to life and remind us that things really did look like this at one time.  That's something I don't often see on steam-era layouts, but I really like it.

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ChuckG-EDO

If 'There Will Be Blood' had a period railroad built for it...

...this'd be it! Salud!

CDMV

 

Chuck G.

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Nevin W. Wilson NevinW

visiting the T&T

UpFan951:  Sure, I'd be happy to show it to sometime.  Send me a PM.  

Modeling the Maryland Midland Railroad circa 2006

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wesgarcia

Great work!

You have done a fine job in modeling the high desert. You can feel the heat. Really enjoyed all your photos. Hope you will post more photos.

 

Wes Garcia

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

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