Moline Nevada

rburdett · May 12, 2005, 9:05pm

Does anyone know the location of Moline Nevada? I suspect it was a small maintenance of way town (10 or so houses) somewhere on the Western Pacific but I can’t find it on any of the maps that I have checked. Some of my relatives worked out of there back in the 1940’s - 1950’s. Any other info of interest on Moline would be appreciated.

joseph2 · May 12, 2005, 10:41pm

My 1910 map shows a Moleen on the WP about 12 miles west of Elko.

rburdett · May 16, 2005, 9:22am

Thanks for the spelling clarification. I guess I have lived in the Midwest too long (i.e., Moline, IL).

According to nvghosttowns.com: Moleen was first a sidetrack and signal station on the Central Pacific Railroad. All of the buildings at Moleen have long ago disappeared. Only concrete foundations are left.

I assume that my aunt (now pushing 90) lived in one of the houses built on those foundations after WWII. She described the town then as “Timbuktu.”

Moleen was built near the Humboldt River. Many early pioneers traversed the major trails (e.g., Bidwell, Donner, Emigrant) that led through the canyon created by the Humboldt River. The railroads – the Central Pacific and the Western Pacific came next. Last of all, US Highway 40 and Interstate 80 would run by Moleen, through the Carlin Canyon, and on to San Francisco. I found some nice pictures of the rails, roads and river at http://www.elkorose.com/carlincanyon.html.

I am not up on my railroad history but apparently the Southern Pacific and the Western Pacific operated the tracks through the canyon after WWII. I assume that my uncle worked for the WP, since they showed Moleen on their timetable. I don’t know if the SP ever had any facilities there. My understanding is that the UP bought both the WP and SP, so I assume that UP owns both sets of tracks today. I have no idea whether they are still using both lines.

Thanks again for the help.

spbed · May 16, 2005, 9:50am

Sorry my 1979 book containing the route map of the WPRR the WPRR did not list Moline on their route map. [:o)][8D]

[quote]
Originally posted by rburdett
[

chad_thomas · May 16, 2005, 10:01am

QUOTE: Originally posted by rburdett

Thanks for the spelling clarification. I guess I have lived in the Midwest too long (i.e., Moline, IL).

According to nvghosttowns.com: Moleen was first a sidetrack and signal station on the Central Pacific Railroad. All of the buildings at Moleen have long ago disappeared. Only concrete foundations are left.

I assume that my aunt (now pushing 90) lived in one of the houses built on those foundations after WWII. She described the town then as “Timbuktu.”

Moleen was built near the Humboldt River. Many early pioneers traversed the major trails (e.g., Bidwell, Donner, Emigrant) that led through the canyon created by the Humboldt River. The railroads – the Central Pacific and the Western Pacific came next. Last of all, US Highway 40 and Interstate 80 would run by Moleen, through the Carlin Canyon, and on to San Francisco. I found some nice pictures of the rails, roads and river at http://www.elkorose.com/carlincanyon.html.

I am not up on my railroad history but apparently the Southern Pacific and the Western Pacific operated the tracks through the canyon after WWII. I assume that my uncle worked for the WP, since they showed Moleen on their timetable. I don’t know if the SP ever had any facilities there. My understanding is that the UP bought both the WP and SP, so I assume that UP owns both sets of tracks today. I have no idea whether they are still using both lines.

Thanks again for the help.

UP does still use both tracks. This is part of the paired track running that goes back to WWI. Between Weso(Winnemucca) and Alazon (Wells) the ex-SP track is used for westbound movements and the ex-WP is used for eastbound movements. The war board started this operation and it worked so well that the SP & WP stuck with it after the war.