One of my favorite words is dichotomy. Dichotomy means dividing something into two contradictory opposite groups. A favorite example is an old railroad term, deferred maintenance another is military intelligence. So what does this all have to do with the railroad museum? Two incidents happened at the museum recently that just hammered home the term […]
Well, the season is here and we are off and running the trains six days a week. (If you live anywhere in East Ely you already know that.) It was a gamble on the part of the museum to adopt such an aggressive schedule. The conundrum that the museum finds itself in is the classic
Off and Running the Trains Read More »
To the casual observer the museum does not seem to change. But under the surface work is continuing on various projects. One such project is Nevada Northern Railway Coach 5. Damaged in a collision eight years ago, we are near the end of the repairs and getting Coach 5 ready for service. Following is an
What’s real? Here in Nevada we have Las Vegas, where you can go from Ancient Egypt to New York, just walking a couple of blocks. Want Paris? Just walk a little further. Out in California they have Disneyland, with a perfect Main Street, only it’s three-quarters the real size and there was never a Main
With apologies to William Shakespeare, as the Nevada Northern Railway Museum moves forward we need to answer this very basic question, to be a museum or not to be a museum, that is the question. Sounds simple doesn’t it. After all, we call ourselves a museum, so we must be one, right? Not quite, it
To Be A Museum or Not To Be A Museum Read More »
The Nevada Northern Railroad Museum is applying for two Save America�s Treasures grants. The Save America’s Treasures, a public-private partnership between the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Park Service, was established in 1998 to protect America’s threatened cultural resources, including historic structures, art, maps, and journals that document and illuminate our history and
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This is part two of the history of the Ore Line — the industrial railway that played such a big part in Ely’s mining and railroad history. This installment offers brief descriptions of the stations served by the line. It is taken from the Nevada Northern & Railroads of White Pine County Web site developed by Keith
The Ore Line — Part II Read More »
Last season was the largest season the Museum has ever had; we carried over 7,000 passengers. I thought I would share with you where our passengers come from. As you might expect, Nevada leads the list; almost 56% of our ridership is from our home state. The breakdown within Nevada is interesting also; 46% of
Who Rides and How Do They Find Out? Read More »
Forty-nine structures, three steam locomotives, six diesel locomotives, one steam crane, one steam rotary snowplow, six passenger cars, fifty freight cars, and about thirty miles of track; these are components that make up the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. Then there are the 7,200 passengers that rode with us last year and another 12,000 that stopped
A World Class Museum Read More »
Many moons ago I was the project manager for a downtown revitalization group in Laramie Wyoming. At the same time, working in a parallel job was an individual whose job was economic development. We worked together for a year and he had the harder job. I watched him trying to land economic development projects; it
Economic Development and the Railroad Read More »
Planning Your Trip
About The Museum
Hours of Operation
Monday - Saturday 8:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday - 8:00am - 4:00pm
Our Location
1100 Ave A, Ely, NV 89301
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