The Shop

“BIG ENGINE COMING – Engine 93, the fourth of the monster type in use in the ore train service, will be started from the Pittsburg shops of the American Locomotive Co. on the 15th of this month for East Ely, according to advices that have been received.”——White Pine News, January 6, 1909 Some things lead

After eight months of hard work, I’m pleased to announce steam locomotive 93 is back in service! The entire running gear underwent rebuilding. Locomotive 93 had been plagued with her axles running hot. For years, we have measured the axles’ temperature at Keystone; they always ran a little on the warm side. Then in July

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 tires have been turned on the inside. Eight new crown brasses are in refurbished drive boxes. Now 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 1983. At the time the railroad was split, the southern third was donated to the City of Ely

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, one of the bigger projects we’re doing is repairing the steam locomotives. Currently locomotive 93 is undergoing repairs.

The goal of the Nevada Northern Railway Museum is to preserve the Nevada Northern Railway. Simple statement—no real surprises there—but it is a very deceptive statement. Why deceptive? Because you need to ask the question: just exactly what are we preserving? And what does preserving it mean? The concept of preserving the railroad is actually

by Marty Westland, Chief Mechanical Officer “But didn’t you just rebuild 40?” I’ve heard the question dozens of times when visitors see the locomotive in the shop for repairs. So I thought that this might be a good opportunity to explain a little bit about the “care and feeding” of our steam locomotives. As you

At the time Joan and I started restoring combine 06, we had mistakenly assumed that we were working on combine 05. A combine is a railroad passenger car that combines both a passenger section and a baggage section, hence the name combine. This type of car was used on routes that didn’t have much in