Steam & Excursion > A Rarely Seen Shortline - Nevada's Silver Peak Railroad

Thee are certain railroads that operated in the West for such a short period of time and so early in the century, that few if any photos exist of their operations or their equipment. Such is the case of the Silver Peak Railroad in Southern Nevada.

This shortline was built in 1906 of the Tonopah & Goldfield RR between Mina and Tonapah, Nevada. The railroad was named after the Silver Peak Mining District that it was built to service. The connection with the T&G was named Blair Junction on account of the town at the end of this line 17 1/2 miles away, Blair, NV.

Like so many shortlines built to service mining areas in the far West, the fortunes of the railroad rise and fall with the prices of the ore being mined along the line. The Silver Peak Railroad never had a successful year despite all their efforts to become profitable. The line even depended on a McKeen railcar for it's passenger service in an effort to reduce costs.

Despite the owners attempts to make the line profitable, the Silver Peak Railroad was abandoned in 1918, just 12 years after it was built.

Finding any photos of the Silver Peak Railroad equipment is very difficult as the line was abandoned long before most Railfans came into existence. Here are 3 rare views of SPRR equipment.

The first 2 photos were taken in 1919 at Blair Junction, NV and show 2 of the 3 steam locomotives used on this line. The first photo shows SPRR #2, an Baldwin 4-4-0 built in 1887 and bought used by the SPRR in 1909. The second photo shows SPRR #4, an ex Oregon Shortline 4-4-0 also bought used by the SPRR.

The final photo was taken by Al Rose and shows the Silver Peak RR McKeen railcar in 1937 at her last owner, the Red River Lumber Co. in Westwood, California. While she is a bit faded and tired, she still shows her lettering for the then long-gone Silver Peak Railroad.

We are lucky that at least a few images have remained to remind us this shortlived shortline that tried to make a go of it in the Nevada desert over 100 years ago.


Martin



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/13 05:41 by LoggerHogger.

---

---

---

Thank you Martin for showing photos of a railroad I've only read about. What a find!

Another fascinating post Martin. Interesting to note that the headlight is off #2 . . . wonder if loco not in use at that point or the lamp is being repaired . . . guess we will never know. And what adds to the ambience of the era of that photo is the wagon wheels and what appears to be an old buckboard in the foreground.

Craig
http://mcmrailvideos.com/

I believe #2 was ready to depart for South San Francisco, CA, and final scrapping.

Once again Martin, fantastic images. I hope that your collection will go to a museum some day. I would pay for a book also, even a series with maps to look at.

Keep them coming

Posted from iPhone

LoggerHogger: his mission is to educate us all about the rarities of the RR world.

I appreciate your sentiment CPRR, but I know of no musuem that would make my collection available as I do in this way and to authors of books, magazines and historical society news letters.

I amased this collection from many fine photogrpahers who, like me wanted to see the material kept circulating without being lost in the red-tape of a museum or lost by a museum all together.

Martin