Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad
Number Builder Type Works Number Built Acquired Notes
# 1 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4-6-0 # 14418 1895 1904 Built for the Wisconsin and Michigan Railroad as their 1st # 8 , but sent back to Baldwin for being too big for the line . Later sold to the Union Construction Co. to construct the Randsburg Railway and became their No . 1 . Later acquired by the AT & SF and renumbered # 260 , # 641 , and # 846 , before going to the T & T in 1905 . Scrapped 1941 , bell was saved by the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society and is on display inside the RailGiants Train Museum at Pomona , California
# 2 Dickson Manufacturing Company 2-6-0 # 454 1883 1906 Originally built for the Delaware , Lackawanna and Western Railroad as their # 85 ( Buffalo Division ) , and later became # 671 . Sold to the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad by way of Fitzhugh-Luther Co. on 6/11/06 . In 1910 , the engine went to the Goldfield Consolidated Mining Co. and became their # 2
# 4 Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-6-0 # 29312 1906 1906 Ordered for the Tonopah and Tidewater , straight from the Baldwin Locomotives Works on 6/22/1906 . Later leased and sold to the Santa Maria Valley Railroad in 1913 , becoming their # 2 . Scrapped 1937
# 5 Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-8-0 # 31418 1907 1907 Ordered for the Tonopah and Tidewater , straight from the Baldwin Locomotives Works on 2/21/1907 . Sister locomotive to # 6 . Sold to the Santa Maria Valley Railroad in 1913 , and became their second # 1 . Scrapped 1937
# 6 Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-8-0 # 31419 1907 1907 Ordered for the Tonopah and Tidewater , straight from the Baldwin Locomotives Works on 2/21/1907 . Sister locomotive to # 5 . Sold to Pacific Portland Cement Co. of Auburn , California
# 6 ( 2nd ) Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-8-0 # 30107 1907 1921 Originally Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad # 6 , sold to the T & T in 1921 . Later sold to Six Companies Inc. to assist in the construction of Hoover Dam , and became their # 7101 . Scrapped around 1936 or 1937
# 7 Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-8-0 # 31750 1907 1907 Ordered for the Tonopah and Tidewater , straight from the Baldwin Locomotives Works on 2/21/1907 . Sister locomotive to # 8 . Sold to the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad and became their 2nd # 53 in 1944 . Scrapped 1948
# 8 Baldwin Locomotive Works 2-8-0 # 31791 1907 1907 Ordered for the Tonopah and Tidewater , straight from the Baldwin Locomotives Works on 2/21/1907 . Sister locomotive to # 7 . Bought by Henry J. Kaiser Co. ( later Kaiser Steel Corp. ) for work at their steel mill in Fontana , California . Later converted to an 0-8-0 and scrapped 1947
# 9 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4-6-0 # 32292 1907 1907 Ordered for the Tonopah and Tidewater , straight from the Baldwin Locomotives Works on 8/6/1907 . Sister locomotive to # 10 . Sold to the Morrison-Knudsen Co. in 1945 , and used at the Norton Army Air Field near San Bernardino , California , later to the Travis Army Air Field at Fairfield , California . Scrapped 1946
# 10 Baldwin Locomotive Works 4-6-0 # 32293 1907 1907 Ordered for the Tonopah and Tidewater , straight from the Baldwin Locomotives Works on 8/6/1907 . Sister locomotive to # 9 . Sold to the Morrison-Knudsen Co. in 1945 , and used at the Norton Army Air Field near San Bernardino , California , later to the Travis Army Air Field at Fairfield , California Scrapped 1946
# 99 St. Louis Car Company G/E Motorcar # 1484/349 1928 1928 Ordered by the Tonopah & Tidewater , and arrived on the railroad on Christmas , 1928 . Used for tourist service , and pulled a maximum of 2 to 3 Pullman sleeper cars brought over by the Union Pacific Railroad . Sold 1943 to the Ferrocarril Sonora-Baja California in Mexico , became SBC # 2501 . Retired about 1963 , and still exists today . Currently in storage at the railroad shops in Benjamin Hill
Locomotives
The Tonopah and Tidewater had a maximum of 16 locomotives , 10 steam locomotives and one gas-driven railcar , and 6 steam engines added into the roster when it merged with the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad in 1908 . [ 14 ] [ 15 ]
The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad was a former class II railroad that served eastern California and southwestern Nevada. The railroad was built mainly to haul borax from Francis Marion Smith's Pacific Coast Borax Company mines located just east of Death Valley, but it also hauled lead, clay, feldspar, passengers and general goods across the desert to a connection with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad at Ludlow, California, and to the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad (later Union Pacific Railroad) at Crucero, California. The railroad was originally intended to run from Tonopah, Nevada to San Diego, California (the tidewater), but never made it to either on its own rails. It was famous for being the last of the three railroads built to cross the Death Valley region, and outlasting them by over 30 years providing dedicated and reliable service to the desert residents. The T&T also formed part of a potential north-south transcontinental railroad route, connected together by four different US railway companies, later used as the basis to potentially form a Mid-Pacific Railroad. The railroad operated from 1907 until 1940, when it suspended operations due to a lack of profitable traffic. The rails were taken up in 1943 for use in World War II and the company itself was officially abandoned by 1946.