Las Vegas

Hello All,

I will be travelling to Las Vegas, NV tomorrow and will have Thursday through Saturday as full days there as I will travel back home to MD on Sunday. I was wondering what the action was like in the city. I will be staying at the Luxor so anything in walking distance? How many trains could I expect and what would be an ideal time to try to catch a train or two? It would be much appreciated if someone could give me a brief little overview of railfanning in Vegas as I am totally unfamiliar with the area.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Davis

You'll find that the tracks are just to the west of you on Hacienda (1/2 mile or so), but really not much to see and the area is not good either. Traffic will come and go at all hours of the day in Vegas. The "terminal" (crew change point) is to the north of your location at West Charleston Blvd. You are too far away from the yards on the west and east end of town (Arden to the west and Valley to the east) if you do not have a car. About the most reliable train you'll see is the ZLADV which rolls into town around 1400 or so.

Good luck.

Okay thanks, I figyred it wasn't going to be too busy through there. Maybe I'll shoot for seeing ZLADV and get by the tracks around 1330 and stick it out to 1500-1530.

Thank you very much for your help!

Davis

A few years back the line through Vegas was pretty busy with 20+ trains a day, but in the past few years UP has switched most of its LA-Chicago traffic from that line to the sunset route, so the train counts are probably more like 10-12 per day.