Uncategorized

There is a place in Ely where you can witness what America was like just after the turn of the last century. When civilization harnessed the iron horse and transformed the country. The Nevada Northern Railway Museum is not your customary museum. There is no display building per say; the museum encompasses a forty-acre outdoor […]

The first quarter of 2004 has come and gone. As the days become longer and warmer, the museum is gearing up for a very ambitious season. I wanted to take a moment and review what we’ve done this spring and a quick overview of the summer. Let’s start at the shops, the heart of the

On June 11, 12, and 13 the Nevada Northern Railway Museum in conjunction with the East Ely Depot Museum, the White Pine Public Museum, and the White Pine Chamber of Commerce celebrates the Long Steel Rails Festival. This festival will explore the impact railroads had in the building of America. These parallel long steel rails changed

On June 1, 2005, the Nevada Northern Railway turns 100 years old and starts a fifteen month long Centennial Celebration. The centennial goes through to September 29, 2006 when the tracks came to Ely and the community celebrated Railroad Day. That means in a mere fifteen months we need to develop plans to celebrate the

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

“So what does a railroad museum do in the middle of winter? You must have it easy now, since your not running trains,” inquired a friend of mine. The answer to his question is we are almost as busy now as we are during the summer. Then he asked, “So what have you been doing?”

The Nevada Northern Railway Museum recently hired Jack Anderson as our Master Mechanic. The Master Mechanic is responsible to keep all of our equipment in good repair and in compliance with all state and federal regulations. After a nation wide search, Jack Anderson was the candidate selected for the position. I’ll let Jack introduce himself

There is more to the Nevada Northern Railway Museum than the locomotives and equipment. It maybe argued that our real claim to fame is not the equipment and buildings but the paper record that we have as part of our collection. Stored in the buildings throughout the museum complex is the daily paper record that

Yin and Yang, good news, bad news or as a friend of mine once said, your weakness are your strengths and your strengths are your weakness. So what does this all have to do with running a railroad museum? Plenty. If you read last week’s column, one would be lead to believe that everything down

The White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation manages the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. The Foundation’s management board started developing a strategic plan at a board retreat in October 2002. The Strategic Plan is based on a program that the National Trust for Historic Preservation developed for its Main Street Project. The National Trust recognized the dilemmas facing the