{Click on an image to enlarge, then use the back button to return to this page}
This page last updated on 01/27/2018
 |
| (Fig. 01) |
Description: Kingman has passenger rail service at its train station. It is served by the Amtrak Southwest Chief route, with daily service between Los Angeles and Chicago. The small Amtrak station in downtown Kingman (Fif. 01) is a historically significant building, constructed in Mission Revival Style architecture; however, prior to the establishment of Amtrak in 1971, the structure had fallen into disrepair with the decline of passenger rail service in the U.S. A total renovation of the building was completed in 2010. While still serving as a railroad station, the building is also now home to a model railroad museum (Fig. 02). Kingman also is located on the Southern Transcon route of the BNSF Railway. This is the main transcontinental route between Los Angeles and Chicago, and carries 100 to 150 freight trains per day.
 |
| (Fig. 02 |
 |
| (Fig. 03) |
History: Recent research shows that Kingman has had four railroad depots, all of which were operational prior to Arizona being admitted as the 48th State to the United States. The first train to come to Kingman arrived on March 28, 1883. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad used a boxcar then as a depot at the southeast corner of 4th and Front Streets (Andy Devine Ave.) until a proper depot was built. All subsequent depots were constructed in the same location. The Second was built in 1885 and destroyed by fire in 1900. The fire was said to have been caused by hot cinders from a passing steam engine. The Santa Fe Railway then built a single-story wooden depot in 1900 that looked similar to the current one, except that it did not have the ornate roof structures. This new depot opened its doors in December. It burned down on June 24, 1906, and again the fire was said to have been caused by hot cinders from a passing steam engine. After having lost the two previous depots to fire, the Santa Fe Railway built a new depot that was fireproof and constructed of concrete with a stucco siding. This was a success, as the depot that opened on July 22nd, 1907, is still standing today (Fig. 01). By the early 2000's the depot was in disrepair. It was restored, and the building was reopened in the spring of 2011. Although the station is an unmanned station (meaning there are no ticket agents or baggage services), Amtrak uses the west end of the building as a crew room and passenger waiting room for the two Amtrak trains that stop there daily. At one end there is a 111 year old luggage cart is The larger portion of the building now houses the Kingman Railroad Museum and is used by the Whistle Stop Railroad Club twice monthly for their membership meetings.
 |
| (Fig. 04) |
The Model Railroad Museum: The Whistle Stop Railroad Club Railroad Museum is located inside the train depot on Andy Devine, Historic Route 66, at Fourth street. It is in the east end of the building. The hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. The 14,500 square foot museum space showcases various relics, different types of model trains, and the history of trains here in Kingman. Built by the members of the Whistle Stop Railroad Club, there are three beautifully detailed model train set layouts, each of which that have several trains running. They include HO-gauge, Lionel O-gauge, and N-gauge. With the cooperation of the City of Kingman, the Whistle Stop Railroad Club operates and maintains the Kingman Railroad Museum. The club is comprised solely of volunteers who have a shared interest in the preservation of the historical depot, finding and obtaining railroad memorabilia, and in sharing their findings with the public. At this time, the volunteers of the club are revamping the HO layout by adding DCC wiring and making the Plexiglas walls around it to be more camera friendly. The N-gauge layout is also currently undergoing an expansion. As you enjoy the museum’s displays, the BNSF freight trains speed by the Museum’s floor-to-ceiling viewing windows (Fig. 05).
 |
| (Fig. 05) |
The detail of these three layouts is absolutely amazing. The first one you see when you enter the room is a "HO" Layout (a scale of 1:87). HO was created after the First World War to make layouts more suitable for smaller home layouts and cheaper to manufacture. For this new scale, a track width of 16.5 mm was designed to represent prototypical standard gauge track, and a model gauge scale of 1:87 was chosen. This came on a raised, quasi-ballasted trak with a guage of 16.5 mm, which was described at that time as either 00 or HO. Accessory manufacturers, such as Kibri, marketed building in the corresponding scale. In figures 06, 07, & 08 below you can see a farm, a container shipyard and a trestle bridge and construction area. At the end there is even a section that shows the depot and an area of downtown Kingman (Fig. 09). Click on each picture to see more detail.
 |
| (Fig. 06) |
 |
| (Fig. 07) |
 |
| (Fig. 08) |
 |
| (Fig. 09) |
The second layout in the middle of the room is a "O" scale (1:48 to 1:43.5) (Fig. 10). By the 1930s three-rail alternating current "O" guage was the most common model railroad sale in the United States and remained so until the early 1960s. Even though its popularity declined due to the introduction of smaller scales, a number of changes in recent years have addressed the concerns of scale model railroaders, making "O" scale more popular. Due to its larger scale there are less tracks. In spite of this, four trains run around the large mountain in the center and the detail is still quite amazing
 |
| (Fig. 10) |
 |
| (Fig. 11) |
 |
| (Fig. 12) |
 |
| (Fig. 13) |
 |
| (Fig. 14) |
The third layout to the left rear of the room is an "N" scale layout, where the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. In all cases, the gauge (the distance between the rails) is 9mm (or .354"). Height is a measurement of schedule; i.e. schedule 55 or 60 mil rail height with brow ties, while schedule 80 the rails are 80 mils and the ties are black. The advantage of the popular "N" scale is that it allows hobbyists to build layouts that take up less space than HO scale, or put longer track runs into the same amount of space, because the models are smaller (by nearly a half) than they are in HO scale. This layout was so large, it was hard to take it all in. The view in (Fig. 15) is only about half of this layout. The details, like those seen in Figures 18 and 19, provided by Robert Croke are just amazing. There was even one of a helicopter crash scene that show two people carrying an injured person down the hill (Fig. 20). We all really enjoyed our visit here and would definitely go back again if we were in the area again.
 |
| (Fig. 15) |
 |
| (Fig. 16) |
 |
| (Fig. 17) |
 |
| (Fig. 18) Picture courtesy of Robert Croke |
 |
| (Fig. 19) Picture Courtesy of Robert Croke |
 |
| (Fig. 20) |
 |
| (Fig. 21) |
