Despite budget cuts, Nevada Southern Railway Museum still rolling

By Jeff Pope

Saturday, June 13, 2009 | noon

The Nevada Southern Railway Museum in Boulder City has not been spared from state budget cuts, but the rolling train exhibit is still on track to meet or exceed its biggest ridership numbers this year, the museum’s director said.

Museum Director Greg Corbin said one maintenance worker will be laid off and the remaining three employees, including Corbin, will scale back their hours from 40 to 32 per week.

The museum train will continue to make its four runs every Saturday and Sunday and provide a unique lesson of Nevada’s railroad history for schools and other groups during the week for now, Corbin said.

The train travels a historic seven-mile route originally established in the 1930s to service the construction of Hoover Dam. The ride in the train’s air-conditioned or open-air coaches takes about 45 minutes.

“We’ll maintain our current schedule for the remainder of this year,” Corbin said. “Then we’ll possibly make adjustments going into our next operating season.”

While riders won’t notice much difference following the mandated cuts, the remaining staff will have more work to do and less time to do it.

The maintenance position is responsible for the care and safety of the cars, including the electrical and heating and cooling systems.

The railway is not alone in forced cutbacks. The state Legislature budgeted the Division of Museums and History $8.3 million for the next biennium, representing a 36 percent cut over the last biennium.

Every employee of the state museums had their hours cut, which also reduces the days museums will be open.

The Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas will be open four days a week instead of seven and the proposed museum at the Springs Preserve has been delayed. All 13 positions for the new museum were cut, but the Legislature funded the preparation of exhibits.

Corbin said the railway will rely more heavily on its volunteers, who contributed 5,260 hours in just the past five months.

The railway is expected to meet or exceed its highest ridership this year. The museum turns a profit, which goes right back into the state’s general fund.

The museum is on pace to top 26,000 riders this fiscal year, ending June 30, for the second straight year. That’s up from 18,569 in 2006-2007 and 9,342 the year before. In December, the holiday-themed Santa Train drew 9,788 riders during the two weekends it ran.

The museum attracted groups from about 40 schools this year.

“The kids want to come back. Sometimes we get just as many parents as students who want to participate as well,” Corbin said. “Education is the main part of what we do.”

For the volunteers, the museum offers the chance to indulge in their interest in trains, contribute their skills from a variety of backgrounds or, like Jim Potvin, gives them the chance to hone their professional skills.

Potvin volunteers as a locomotive mechanic at the museum when he’s not driving a train at a gypsum mine.

He said the railway provides an outlet not just for the volunteers but for all the people who just love riding the rails, if only for a few miles.

“There’s people who say it doesn’t go anywhere. They’re right. But people like to come out and ride,” he said.