Black Rock - Croaker Diggs

Welcome to Croaker Diggs
My name is Charlie and I am the originator and builder of my RailRoad town of Croaker Diggs. The 'Diggs' is a fictional old west mining and railroad town set in the Nevada desert in 1873. The town actually exist, and it has since 2009, but on my back property here in Nevada. It is a scale representation of the town at 1/24 scale. Croaker Diggs has been built, tore down, moved and rebuilt four times now. This will probably be the last iteration of the town. At the time of this writing, there are over 68 buildings, mostly commercial such as saloons, telegraph, gun store, general mercantile, bordellos, black smith and everything needed to make the town function as it did (or would have) in 1873. You are welcome to cruise thru the site and check out the progress of our growing town and railroad, look at the pictures, slideshows  and videos and of course follow the progress of the railroad and the town. So get your favorite beverage, sit back and join us. - Charlie
 

The future of the 'town' was in question.

Late spring 2023, I decided to suspend operations at 'the Diggs' and repurpose the area of the town. Not because I lost the love for it but rather it was a daily reminder of the destructive power of the desert sun on the buildings of the town. The process of building an accurate representation of an old west building and then placing it in the town was as if I was condemning them to a fierce destructive power almost as if I was throwing them into a slow fire. So, I reluctantly removed all the buildings and uprooted the underground electrical and plumbing infrastructure. The town was gone. I put the buildings into storage with an undetermined future. the 68 buildings I built over the last 15 years sat quietly without community or purpose. For me, it was a sad thing and really needed fixed.

Well, apparently railroading is in my blood as I have decided to make major changes to the Diggs and relocate the town to 'restore' the imagined community. Many of the 68 buildings will need to be rebuilt. That effort is in process. The track will need to be raised 3 feet to allow this old man to better run and maintain the trains. So, the town of Croaker Diggs was razed and rebuilt in a different area of our property here in Fallon, Nevada. These changes are substantial and now complete as of mid July.

The refreshed story line of Croaker Diggs is as follows.

  The town of Croaker Diggs was vacated and razed in June 1873 after the devastating fire that apparently started in Millers barn. The fire ravaged the town destroying over 18 buildings and forced relocation of many residents and store-keepers of the town that had recently been experiencing dwindling mine output and a falling population. A general town meeting was held and it was shown that many of the merchants wanted to relocate but didn't want to lose their clientele and community of friends. A member of the community had a large piece of land several miles away, so he contributed the area to the relocation effort. The new town was surveyed and business and home-sites plotted. Several new mines were started with promising results for future mining revenue and employment. A very large black unmovable granite bolder was blocking the towns proposed center so it was decided to build around the natural monument and name the  the town Black Rock, for obvious reasons.

Stay with us...

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