Las Vegas: Rail Cars

I had been so excited to do the rail cars through the redwood trees in California, but when COVID caused us to reroute and replan, we had to skip this. Ben knew I was disappointed and found me rail cars in Las Vegas!

The rail cars were located in Boulder City, which was about a 25 minute drive from our campground. You can rent a 2 or 4 seat rail car.

We left early to explore the town a little bit before our tour. We found the turbine in the park for Hoover Dam. Unfortunately, the Hoover Dam tours and walkway were closed (for COVID). Ben was really bummed about that, as he wanted to show the boys and take the tour.

We checked in for our tour and walked around the outdoor train museum while we waited. We read about mail trains and nuclear rocket trains. It was some interesting stuff.

After a brief safety speech (video link), we were assigned our rail cars. These are only powered by peddling (like a bike), but they glided really easily over the tracks.

Talk about social distancing! They spaced out the rail cars so that there was plenty of room between each group. We didn’t see anyone before or after us for most of the ride.

The track down to the halfway/stopping point was 4 miles, but it flew by. (Click here for the video!) I really wish the experience on the rail cars was longer (one of the employees told us that they do have plans to eventually extend it). Once you reach the halfway point, there were several chairs (and lights for the night time trips) for you to relax in while you waited for the train to pick you up. We had brought water and snacks, so we sat back and snacked.

The train was a fun way to get back to the museum/parking lot. The train cars consisted of mostly open-aired cars and they really spaced out the rail car riders between several different cars for social distancing. It was a great ride back.

We were one of the last ones off and one of the conductors asked if the boys wanted to see the caboose. We got pictures on the back deck and he let them blow the horn. It was really loud! They were ecstatic that they got to blow the horn, even Ben. 🙂 The inside of the caboose was really neat with built in metal stairs to a high seat on either side of the walkway.

The rail car company offered a Rambler (4:00pm), Sunset (6:00pm), and Lantern (8:00pm) tour. We booked the 4:00 trip since the evening ones were full. However, at 4:00pm it was still a little warm to say the least. There wasn’t a lot of shade along the trail, and the rail cars did not have tops. The rail cars were really neat and easy to move along the tracks, but the scenery wasn’t the best. It ran along the road for most of the trip (which makes sense since that is where most railroad tracks run). The train ride back and blowing the train horn I think were the most memorable parts for the kids. It was still a really neat experience!