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In previous columns I have discussed the reachable past of the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. There is a piece of that past that I would like to share with you. In the machine shop mounted on the wall is a circular addressed to ALL EMPLOYES. At first glance there is nothing special about that circular […]

Just recently I received a series of old Nevada Northern Railway timetables. Timetables are a rare commodity at the museum. The museum has the original plans to the 1908 ashpit and most of the buildings, but we only have a few copies of the last timetables. This is odd, because timetables were critical to the

The Nevada Northern Railway Museum has been selected as a venue for the Center For Railroad Photograph & Art’s traveling photographic exhibition. This exhibition, “Railroads and Photography: 150 Years of Great Images,” opens at the Nevada Northern Railway Museum on November 1st in the ground floor of the Transportation Building. Not only was the Museum selected as

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 importance of the preservation of the Nevada Northern Railway relies on its completeness. There are railway museums scattered around the world. The vast majority of them are a collection of railroad equipment that really has nothing to do with the area where the equipment now is located. Sometimes the equipment is not even relevant

At their December 17 board meeting, the management board of the Foundation voted to form the Great Basin Railroad. This is just the first step on a long road whose final destination is the restoration of freight service between the rail connection with the Union Pacific Railroad and Ely. First some history, construction on the Nevada

Many Ely visitors travel back home with a liberal dose of fond memories and copious canisters of exposed film from a fantastic train ride aboard the Nevada Northern Railway. They’ve experienced the “operations” portion of the historical, operating railroad museum. But what about the “historical” element? What have they learned to connect with the abundant

In 1905, Mark L Requa built the Nevada Northern Railway to standard gauge. Standard gauge is defined as 4-feet 8½-inches of width between the rails. Any rail spacing smaller than that is called narrow gauge. The most common narrow gauge railroads are the 3-foot railroads in Colorado. Anything over the 4-feet 8½-inches is called broad

This past summer I had the opportunity to conduct walking tours of the Museum. It was during the course of these tours someone asked, Why preserve the railroad and yard? I’ve been reflecting on that question since it was asked. There are two reasons. Frankly, without railroads civilization as we know it would not exist. Secondly,