Guinn restores slashed funds for railroad museum visitors center

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn has restored $562,246 for a visitors center at the Boulder City Railroad Museum.

The 1997 Legislature authorized $2.5 million for the railroad museum, designed to be a tourist attraction in Southern Nevada. About $400,000 was spent but the rest was returned to the state because of the budget crunch. Now Guinn is putting part of it back.

I.R. Ashleman, chairman of the state Board of Museums and History, said Tuesday the money would also be used to restore old cars and engines of the Union Pacific Railroad. The museum would be completed in a couple of years, he said.

Four miles of track already extend from the museum to Railroad Pass. Trains from the railroad museum in Carson City are occasionally shipped to Clark County and run the route, Ashleman said.

The visitors center, to cost an estimated $350,000, would include a ticket office, waiting platform, shelter and parking.

And $120,000 would be spent on site planning and architectural design of the project. Restoration of four cars is estimated to cost $138,675.

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