Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad
| Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Locomotive No. 1 on the Goldfield Railroad in September 1905
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 Route completion ( Driving the Golden Spike )
in Goldfield, Nevada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 132 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Route on December 5, 1907
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The Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad (BGRR) was a private, single-track standard gauge - railway line in Nevada , the gold mines in Beatty with the railway lines in the Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad Company and the Central Pacific Railway Company Association.
Route
The main route of the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Company led from Beatty for 78.95 mi (127.06 km) to the north-northwest to Goldfield . A 5.83 mi (9.38 km) junction ran west from Beatty to Rhyolite . The total distance was therefore 84.78 mi. The operating and sidings were also 7.70 mi (12.39 km) long, making the tracks a total of 92.48 mi (148.83 km) long. The Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Company did not have any station or depot buildings, but used those of the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company .
Company history
The Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Company was founded on September 1, 1905 for a period of 50 years in Nevada by investors from the Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad Company and probably the Tonopah Mining Company . This should provide a connection from the southern terminus of the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad in Goldfield to the south to the mining area around Beatty and Rhyolite. This resulted in a long-distance connection over the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad to the Central Pacific Railway in Tonopah in competition with the south-leading Vegas & Tonopah Railroad and the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad.
The construction was carried out by the Amargosa Construction Company under contracts signed on March 20, 1906 and December 27, 1907. The original route lengths are listed in the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Company records. Construction began in early 1906, and the line was completed and opened in May 1907, after which the Amargosa Construction Company initially took over operations until January 1, 1908. The construction costs were borne by the Amargosa Construction Company , which was financed by the Bullfrog Syndicate during the construction period. It appears that the Bullfrog Syndicate ran the Amargosa Construction Company, but there is no known written evidence of this.
The Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Company's original route lengths were as follows:
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Original railway lines in May 1907:
- Rhyolite to Beatty 7.79 mi (12.54 km)
- Beatty to Bonnie Claire 37.49 mi (60.33 km)
- Bonnie Claire to Goldfield 36.65 mi (58.98 km)
- Total: 81.93 mi (131.85 km)
Mining was the most important industrial sector in the region. It suffered a serious crisis shortly after the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad was completed. The downturn in the mining industry resulted in a joint operating agreement with the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad Company in 1908 under a holding registered in Delaware as the Tonopah & Tidewater Company . The agreement could not meet the financial expectations, so that the company was reorganized in June 1904, whereby the parallel Vegas & Tonopah Railroad was shut down and the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Company came under the control of its operator organization, but continued to act as an independent company. The joint operating plan was implemented on January 1, 1908.
Due to financial difficulties, a consolidation agreement between the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Company, its investors and the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company was concluded on June 26, 1914, due to which the parallel route sections were closed. As part of a route swap, the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Company handed over the 7.79 mi (12.54 km) long route from Rhyolite (Bullfrog Mine) to Beatty and the 36.65 mi (58.98 km) from Bonnie on June 26, 1914 Claire to Goldfield, d. H. a total of 44.44 mi (71.52 km) to the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company. In return, the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company gave her their 5.83 mi (9.38 km) route from Rhyolite (Tramps Mine) to Beatty and their 42.12 mi (67.79 km) route from Bonnie Claire after Goldfield, d. H. a total of 47.95 mi (77.17 km). According to an evaluation by the Interstate Commerce Commission, this changed the route length of the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Company as follows. When this consolidation agreement was implemented on July 20, 2014, the Tonopah and Tidewater Company was dissolved. The Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Company was run by the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company, which had owned 51% of the capital stock since 1914. Since then, the two rail companies have operated from Goldfield to Las Vegas under different names .
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Railway routes on June 30, 1915:
- Turnoff from Beatty to Rhyolite (Tramps mine), acquired from Las Vegaa & Tonopah Railroad Company, 5.83 miles (9.38 km)
- Beatty to Bonnie Claire, part of the original route, 36.83 mi (59.27 km)
- From Bonnie Claire to Goldfield, acquired from Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company, 42.12 miles (67.79 km)
- Total: 84.78 mi (136.44 km)
Rail vehicles
- 14 steam locomotives
- 1 freight car
- 3 passenger cars
closure
The Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad ceased operations in January 1928. Previously, she left her routes to the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad Company or the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company under a leasing contract. The management has changed five times during its 21 year existence. The Bullfrog Goldfield Freight Depot and Maintenance Buildings stood on Goldfield's Fifth Avenue and Pearl Streets across from the Santa Fe Saloon and were restored in 2017.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Time Table # 7, as Effective Dec. 5, 1907, Tonopah and Goldfield RR Co., Bullfrog-Goldfield RR Co.
- ↑ a b c d e L.K. Strouse: Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Reports and Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States, Volume 119. United States. Interstate Commerce Commission , 1927 ( on-line ).
- ↑ Labeled Models: Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad.
- ^ Goldfield Historical Society.
Coordinates: 37 ° 42 ′ 48.4 " N , 117 ° 13 ′ 49" W.