New railroad museum center in Boulder City nears finish line

For those who drive by the soon-to-be completed Nevada State Railroad Museum Visitor Center in Boulder City, it’s hard not to see something new with each passing day.

According to museum director Christopher MacMahon, things are going well, and the exterior work will soon be completed.

“We have about three or four weeks remaining in the construction schedule and once complete, we will move to finishes and touch-ups that are scheduled to last through the first week of June,” he said. “Fabrication and installation of exhibits is scheduled through summer, and while that is ongoing, we will begin transitioning parts of our existing facilities to the visitor center in preparation for its opening.”

He said the museum should open in late summer or early fall, most likely in September if everything stays on schedule.

Work on the project began with a December 2024 groundbreaking attended by dignitaries, including Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony.

“Here in the state of Nevada, we really want to preserve our history, and you can do it through books, but that’s not enough. You’ve got to be able to see it and feel it and look at it, and that’s what these museums are all about,” Anthony said during the groundbreaking. “This is a great town here, and it’s a great place to have this museum where it’s not only just for our tourists, it’s really for us. It’s for us, for our kids, that we can bring them here and teach them that Nevada has a rich history that you need to learn about.”

The museum was created using funding from the Nevada Legislature and is now celebrating its 35th anniversary.

“It’s wonderful to finally see the visitor center coming to fruition after all this time,” MacMahon said. “As lucky as I am to lead the project through the final design, construction and the grand opening later this year, I also want to thank my predecessors Greg Corbin and Randy Hees, whose tireless dedication helped advance the visitor center project and without whom this would not be happening.”

Within the 3,800 square feet of exhibit space, guests will discover how railroads helped facilitate mining booms in Nevada, examine the railroads that built Hoover Dam and learn about the top-secret Jackass &Western Railroad that operated at the Nevada Test Site. They’ll also see how railroads continue to shape and build Nevada today, MacMahon said.

The museum will include an archive for the museum’s document and artifact collections, a reading room for researchers and a multipurpose room that can be used as a classroom and public meeting space.

The project includes a larger museum store, a new parking lot with a bus loading and unloading area, a welcome plaza and a railroad passenger loading area with tracks on either side.

“With the project nearing completion, it’s easy to forget that this is just the first part of the expansion under the museum’s master plan,” MacMahon said. “The visitor center was always designed to be a jumping-off point for the rest of the museum campus.”

Plans for expansion include the addition of several facilities, particularly an indoor display hall for locomotives and rolling stock to get them out of the elements.

“These projects are all included on our capital improvement projects list awaiting the governor or Legislature to move them forward,” MacMahon said. “We have no idea when the next project might be approved, but we are hopeful with public support, we won’t have to wait another 35 years.”

The visitor center project comes with a price tag of $25 million and is being paid for by Conserve Nevada Bonds. The future exhibit hall is estimated at $88 million.

The museum is expected to be another draw for Las Vegas visitors passing through Boulder City on their way to Hoover Dam.

“The opening of the new railroad museum in 2026 will be a game changer for our region,” Boulder City Chamber of Commerce CEO Jill Rowland-Lagan said late last year. “It will draw visitors from across state lines, strengthen our tourism economy and celebrate a chapter of history that helped shape the American West.”