Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Engine No. 3 was a standard-gauge 0-6-0 steam switcher built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in December 1906 (works/construction number 29712). It was a Baldwin Class 04-36-D locomotive with 20 × 26-inch cylinders, 52-inch driving wheels, and a total engine weight of approximately 135,000 pounds. Its sister locomotive was BGRR No. 4 (Baldwin works number 29713).
No specific original purchase or build cost for this locomotive (or its sister) appears in the available historical records, railroad valuation documents, or secondary sources on the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad or Baldwin production of the period. Contemporary Baldwin 0-6-0 switchers of similar size and specification typically sold in the roughly $10,000–$15,000 range (in 1906 dollars), but that is a general market figure only and not a documented cost for No. 3.
Summary Timeline
- December 1906 — Built by Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad (BGRR). An original builder’s photograph exists showing the locomotive lettered for the BGRR.
- 1906–1908 — On the BGRR roster. Sources indicate it was acquired/assigned in connection with the railroad’s early operations and equipment roster (some accounts state it worked on the BGRR; others emphasize the short period before corporate changes).
- 1908 — Became property of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad (T&T) as part of the corporate arrangements, leases, and consolidations involving the BGRR, T&T, and related Nevada lines. It was never placed in service on the T&T.
- After 1908 — Sold to the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad (LV&T), where it became that railroad’s second No. 3.
- Later (exact date undocumented in primary summaries) — Sold to the Ludlow & Southern Railway (a short line in the Mojave Desert serving the Bagdad-Chase mining area), retaining the number 3.
- Subsequent transfer — Acquired by the Utah Copper Company (and associated with Bingham & Garfield operations in roster records) and renumbered as Utah Copper / B&G No. 400.
- Circa 1950 — Scrapped.
Final Disposition
Utah Copper (later part of Kennecott Copper operations) retired and scrapped the locomotive around 1950. It did not survive into preservation. Its sister, No. 4 (Utah Copper No. 401), followed a different path: sold to the Peninsula Terminal in 1931 and later scrapped in 1953.
The locomotive’s career illustrates the rapid turnover of motive power among the short-lived Nevada mining railroads of the early 20th century boom-and-bust era (Bullfrog Goldfield, Tonopah & Tidewater, Las Vegas & Tonopah) and the later transfer of surplus equipment to industrial copper-mining operations in Utah. Primary references for the roster history include David F. Myrick’s Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California (Volume II) and compiled locomotive rosters of the Utah Copper / Bingham & Garfield / Kennecott operations.