A great step forward! Congratulations.

Yes, this is a great step forward.

I would like to note the work of our Moderator Randy Hees during his term as Museum Director of the Boulder City campus of the Nevada State RR Museum. He retired in late summer/early fall of 2021.

Randy served as Museum Director during the planning phase of this project. This included developing local support for the visitor center and developing local funding for elements of the project.

He had expressed to me his desire to see the project through to its completion. But health and other circumstances bought about an earlier retirement.

But, he is still helping the museum. After a mandatory period of separation, he reports that he is contract working on several condition/restoration reports for rail equipment in the collection.

I wish the project, the museum, and its staff well.

PS Randy and I have known each other for a good many years (decades). When he took the Museum Director job in Boulder City we had the opportunity to visit with each other more often.

Not mentioned in this thread relative to Nevada's three State Railroad Museums is the appropriation of $4,014,424 for remodeling of the historic Nevada Northern Railway Freight Building in Ely. This 1905 structure, owned by the State of Nevada and operated as part of the East Ely Depot Museum, the Freight Building will be upgraded and utilized for interpretive exhibits and educational space for the museum.

Both this and the $23,309,936 appropriation for construction of the new visitor center and related facilities at the Boulder City Railroad Museum are part of a $30 million appropriation for improvements to Nevada's State Museums which I was able to secure in 2019 as part of a $200 million capital improvement bond issue authorized by the 2019 session of the Nevada Legislature (AB84 of the 2019 session). (Approximately $2.2 million was released in 2021 to provide for completion of design documents through construction drawings for both projects.)

The vision for expanded facilities in Boulder City dates back over a decade when then museum director J. Greg Corbin (now retired) first proposed expansion, relocating the focus of the museum to the opposite end of the Boulder City railyard, near U.S. Highway 95 and Buchanan Road.

In 2015, I was able to secure a $350,000 grant from the Nevada Commission on Tourism for master planning of a three-phase expansion. LGA Architects of Las Vegas have led the effort through to today. Randy Hees contributed greatly through stakeholder engagement and the raising of awareness for the desperately needed expansion to serve the growing visitation. The City of Boulder City, the Boulder City Chamber of Commerce, the Boulder City Economic Vitality Commission and Clark County have all made significant contributions to the planning and execution of the project.

Bonds to fund construction are expected to be sold later this year with groundbreaking and construction slated for mid-2024 and an opening in mid-2026. Both of these projects show the commitment of Nevada to its significant railroad heritage.


Peter Barton
Retired Administrator (2006-2020)
Nevada Division of Museums & History

An update on the construction of the new visitor center complex for the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City.

First, construction of the access road and utility relocation, necessary components to support the development, will commence by March 1, 2024 under the supervision of the City of Boulder City.

Second, bids for construction of the museum visitor center, parking, and arrival plaza will be accepted starting February 27, 2024 with bid opening set for April 18th. Groundbreaking is tentatively set for late May.

Peter Barton
former Division Administrator NV Div. of Museums
now of Fort Pierce, FL

I won't say the "road" is y underway, but there was a crew out today moving dirt and making an opening in the berm by the new road. So something happening and its early. :-)