At the Throttle

by Steven Bechtold Work, if you hadn’t noticed is a four-letter word. My son and I found out just how hard some work really is this past summer. We wrote Mark way back at the beginning of

I am often asked, “How can you afford to operate a steam-era railroad in rural Nevada in the 21st century?” Well, there’s no two ways about it—it is a monumental undertaking. The size and the scope of

On October 8, the Ely Times front-page headline was “State to Close East Ely Railroad Museum after $1.4 million Renovation.” The article went on to say that “the East Ely Railroad Depot Museum is at risk of being closed

Work continues on repairing Locomotive 93’s running gear. The exciting news is that her new axles are done and are in Salt Lake City. There in Salt Lake her wheel centers have been refurbished and trued. The

The Nevada Northern Railway is currently a landlocked railroad. What I mean by this is that we are isolated from any connection with the national rail system. A little background: the Nevada Northern Railway ceased service in

I just received a thank you card. On the cover is a Chinese character called a Hsu (pronounced xu). The explanation on the back of the card explains that the character means, “to wait.” It further goes

We’re never at a loss for something to do around the museum. It seems like there are a thousand and one tasks—projects big and small all need to be accomplished to keep the trains rolling. Of course,

“They’re divas— they’re temperamental and expensive to maintain,” was Gwyneth’s comment as we were talking about when we’ll be steaming again. Our plan is to have locomotive 93 steaming by the 4th of July. Of course, the

Last Saturday marked the start of the 21st excursion season on the Nevada Northern Railway. It’s been a busy year so far as we prepare for the season with no let up in sight. Of course the