Cliff,
You are doing great and I’m a patient man! You keep watching them diesels!!
I hit the YouTube upload limit yesterday, so here’s a couple more with the wrecker and a loco in the background. It was amazing to see so much motive power running, each with at least engineer, most with fireman, and the crane with a big crew.
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m now in Tonopah. Here’s the view outside my hotel room door:
Nice and creepy! But I made it through the night. Ghosts are no match for two Advil PM.
I wasn’t sure if I’d find much today, it being an off day in off season. But I drove down to Goldfield (25 mins south) to see what I could see. Not much was open, so I pulled over to photo some nice mining equipment beside the highway.
A gentleman was pulling weeds nearby, and asked me if I wanted to know more. Long story short, this is only a small part of Randy Main’s private collection, and I greatly enjoyed his touring of me though it and his buildings that contain portions of it. He has recreated an amazing saloon, which has some of his antique lanterns and signs.
Randy also let me video his nickelodeon.
Great time there, followed by a drive around Goldfield. Lots of closed businesses, and I was told by a shopkeeper that tourists are just not stopping by like before covid and the current economic issues. Here’s an example: the former depot of the Bullfrog & Goldfield RR, with the Santa Fe Hotel & Saloon next door - which are “closed until further notice.”
Very cool stuff though. I dropped by an antique store and bought a couple assaying crucibles for cheap. Then went back to Tonopah, figuring that if all else fails I’ve had a great day already.
I wanted to do the “Mining Park,” the entry of which is right behind my hotel. I figured it would be a collection of equipment, and I’m always up for that. But I was quite wrong: this was a huge and old mining complex, with practically all its buildings and equipment in place, preserved as a historical park.
https://www.tonopahminingpark.com/
Lots to see here…
These chutes loaded ore into RR gondolas:
One headframe of many…
its hoist, through a window…
and a trestle from it.
The Tonopah and Tidewater came up to this facility, and here’s an original trestle that hasn’t for once burned down!
The main facility is amazing. Numerous buildings are open, and you’re free to explore. I had the place to myself.
A look down the shaft of the Mizpah Mine.
The most amazing thing is the Mizpah hoist house, with its equipment looking like it could turn on any moment.
Here’s my interpretation. First, a large (and I’m pretty sure compound, but I wasn’t paying attention well) steam engine.
This drives a large generator, but dangit my shot of it didn’t pan out. It’s peeking from behind the hoist in this shot.
The generator feeds a huge rheostat, comprised of the bank of cells and the controller on the black pedestal. I’ll guess that the “pedestal” is a vertical bank of wipers that relate to what I’m calling “cells” (which are perhaps transformers wired in parallel; don’t know).
Whatever that contraption is, it feeds the hoist motor…
which drives the independently-clutched and braked hoist drums.
On the other side of the building is another large motor…
which belt-drives the big air compressor for underground machinery / etc.
Here’s the air accumulators outside.
Lots of other things to see here, and I’d love to go on, but I want to pinch it off before I wear out my welcome on Bob’s server, haha!
Cliff
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Fantastic trove of pics! Great finds. Sounds like you had a wonderful day.
Enjoy!
Thanks Jim! I’m really having a ball, and I’m sure you would too.
I keep seeing sights and can’t help but thinking what Jim would / could have done photographically. Like this view over Walker Lake, on my drive from Tonopah to Carson.
This morning I visited the Central Nevada Mining Museum, also in Tonopah. Lots of great equipment! Here’s a fraction of it.
I made a stop at Genoa, to pick up something there from an antique dealer. We’d pre-arranged this last June, but he needed to find it. This is a (stamped) V&TRR coupler link pin. Bent, but that’s ok.
He thinks he has a V&T link, but needs more time to find it. Something to pick up next October. 
Tomorrow is laundry, then a meeting with friends of the Sutro Tunnel. I sent them a concept writeup for a scale model of that Tunnel, so it’ll be a fun discussion.
Cliff
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Today was a hiking, laundry and research day.
The hiking was to see for myself where a certain tailings reservoir was, and I found it. No big deal, but it’s impossible to see from Google Earth. And now I see how the rr track approaches might have been made to it. This photo doesn’t really show this manmade bowl-like space, but it is.
I also wanted to track down down some retaining walls…
All of this is for a research project I’m doing on the small, obscure and Comstock-era railroad called the Dayton Sutro and Carson Valley Railroad. This was the line that the little “Joe Douglass” loco (that I made a model of last winter) ran on.
Then laundry…
Then more research on the DSCVRR, using online newspaper resources for papers in the area at the time, as I’ve been doing for the last 6 evenings. Long way to go on that, but it’s all enjoyable to discover little things.
Cheers,
Cliff
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Hi folks!
I guess I should report on the last several days. Not much to show with photos, but there has been lots in the way of sharing info.
Last Wednesday I met with a couple of folks from the Friends of the Sutro Tunnel to discuss a proposal I’d submitted a couple months ago for a model of that tunnel – big, expensive, long term. Long story short, the concept was well received. For the short term, it looks like my winter project will be making a model of the Sutro site (buildings, trackage, terrain, etc.) for their use.
The V&T Conference was great. We had the usual schedule, starting with the "Modeler’s Workshop’ last Thursday night. I brought my Joe Douglass and did a 20 minute presentation on its history and the making of the model.
Friday, a number of excellent lectures were given. Friday night, we started a new thing: “movie night,” with the first movie being Whispering Smith. I introduced it, with a semi humorous and marginally informative presentation on the movie’s advertisements and (most importantly) what to watch for in V&T locos and rolling stock. Lots of fun!
Saturday, more sessions. Then the annual banquet (quite good food!), keynote speaker (on getting electrical power to the Comstock), and finally dispersal of / payment for all the silent auction items (my favorite part).
Sunday (today) was the main field trip, this time to visit the newly-acquired (by the county from private hands) and completely original V&T freight depot in Virginia City. Not open to the public, so this was a rare treat.
The first priority has been to install a state-of-the-art fire suppression system, especially since vandals burned the Dayton depot a couple years ago. Next priority is roofing, as is obvious in these pics.
In the afternoon today, I met with a number of historians from nearby Dayton, NV. In the course of my Joe Douglass loco background study, I started an email conversation with these folks on the enigmatic railroad it ran on. So it was fantastic sitting down face to face, bringing our computers and binders, and basically pooling our info – at least, in a very preliminary sense.
This will be a really fun, long-term discovery project on the Dayton, Sutro and Carson Valley RR, involving clarifying its route and the mill it served and telling the story of its business, the mill’s technologies, and the people behind the operation.
Anyway, if any of y’all have an interest in the V&T, please consider joining up and coming to the conference next year. And if your interest is in another railroad, please consider doing the same with their historical or “friends” group. I’ve found it a wonderful experience to look forward to each year, and have met many specialists, learned of many facts & stories & resources, and made many good friends.
And even though I live on the other side of the country, I truly feel at home with these folks and with Carson City. If you’d enjoy something similar, I know you can carve out a similar blessing for yourself.
Thanks for following this travelogue,
Cliff
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Cliff,
Thanks for taking us all on an armchair journey through space and time! I was shocked by the scope and vitality of the Nevada Northern! It looked more ready for revenue service then our own long-delayed replacement for the OR&L!
Eric
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Thanks to you Eric for following along, much obliged!
I thought I’d had enough fun for one trip, but today held more surprises. After studying more and gaining some tips from Dayton historians, I knew better how to trace some of the DS&CV RR roadbed and went out to find some. Here’s what I hiked (though in reverse order of the numbering).
As you can tell, most of the route is obliterated by development, old and new. Of what remains, I hiked maybe 1/5. Of what I hiked, much of it is obscured by sagebrush. Here’s a clearer view, from #4 on the map, looking NE.
It’s difficult to see in Google Earth, but the small ridge remaining is visible from the ground. But it still was pretty tough, especially at #3, going SW from Enterprise road. Believe it of not, the roadbed is right down the center of this photo.
The confirmation though, even to this Marylander, was easily spotted by the occasional split bolt or spike. These (and others) have been laying there since 1904, when the rails where pulled up.
When the rails, which had been laid in 1882, were taken up in 1904, it’s not too surprising that the workmen found it easier to split the rail joiner bolts by chisel or some larger tool, rather than try to unscrew the nuts. Makes sense. They didn’t have WD-40! And were being payed for the rail and probably joiner plates (which I didn’t see any of).
And even at this late date, the split bolts and spikes are not difficult to spot. Here’s a few of those bolts.
Interesting bolt. Dome head, held in place by a single flat face, which obviously went against a lateral feature in the joiner plate. The bolt shaft was also obround near the head, suggesting an oval punched hole in the joiner plate. Maybe this will show up in Car Builder’s Dictionary? Can’t tell, because I’m still in Nevada till tomorrow morning, and won’t be anywhere near my CBD until Wednesday.
Hike #2 was around the the reservoir of the Rock Point Mill (famous in Nevada). The reservoir is empty, but the DSCVRR ran on the embankments that formed its southern sides.
Lastly, the hike in map area #1 was the first time I’ve seen the historic Chinese Ditch, which was built in 1859 – way early! It fed the mill’s main water wheels, and eventually turbines / Peltons which then drove early dynamos and the electric power plant. The “ditch” was Dayton’s water supply until only a few decades ago.
Here’s the remnants of a race from the ditch / cavity for an overshot wheel for the Douglass mill, one of two.
And here’s a lame video from that stance above the mill.
I was so thrilled to see physical evidences of this short and elusive railroad that the Joe Douglass ran on. I’ll be working with the Dayton historians through the next year and maybe more, in further exploring the story of this railroad and mill.
Well, that’s about it for this trip. Thanks again for following this thread.
Cliff
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Thanks for posting all this great Nevada stuff!! I really miss it.
Thanks for looking, Ray. Yeah, I’ll miss it too.
Having just returned from a pilgrimage of my own to the East Broad I am jealous of how much you were able to see and research. I spent 4 days in the area, but probably only spent about 20 hours or so actively exploring and attending events.
Thanks for the post!
Jon,
That makes two of us: I’m jealous of what I was able to do there, being now back in the warm embrace of normal stressful work stuff. 
Thanks for looking at my posts, I really appreciate it. Helps make it continue to be real. 
Best,
Cliff
Cliff,
While looking for some reference pictures today I ran across some pictures of the Nevada rail museum stuff from back in the 1980’s.
Here is some shots of the V&T shops in Carson before they were torn down the late 80’s early 90’s.
Just thought you might get a kick out of seeing these if you never had a chance to see the building in person.
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Those are GREAT shots Rick, thanks very much for posting them. Such a strong and immense stone building, it would have lived on for many years. Your bottom pic indicates how far back it went…
The only remnants I’ve seen are a smokejack and door pair at NSRM, and photos of one of the stone arches remade into the entry of a Napa winery driveway.
I’d not seen shots from this date, with the entry tracks cut off by the road and a fence all around.
Sad, but a good reminder of the ingenuity of our forebears.
Thanks again!
Cliff
What a tragedy to lose such a unique and historic structure, especially when it seems to be remarkably good shape.
Indeed, Ray.
Some of the arches were sold to private wineries, such as the Round Pond Estate Winery in the Napa area:
According to this article, , and this one, two arches’ worth of stone are being held in Carson for eventual incorporation into the RR museum there, or some other building.
That would be cool. BTW, NSRM has at least one set of the doors (which are huge!), and a replica set would be great to hang in a rebuilt arch there.
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That’s a cool picture Cliff, but ya know, it just doesn’t look like they used the full height of the original.
I agree Rick, they only used about half. Might have been too high otherwise, without surrounding structure to stabilize it.
Cliff thinks too much !
Cliff;
That “contraption” looks like the trolley throttles we used to run some rides with at Hershey Park. They got used for lots of other things too. They were good stepped controllers.
Best, David Meashey
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