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by Keith Albrandt Today marks the centennial of the arrival of the Nevada Northern Railway in Ely—a transportation corridor of steel rails four-feet, eight-and-one-half inches wide—connecting the early, twentieth-century, White Pine County frontier with the transcontinental railroad system. The Nevada Northern was a key element ensuring the financial feasibility of mining, milling, and smelting the […]

The centennial of the completion of the construction of the Nevada Northern Railway from Cobre to Ely is September 29, 2006. When the Nevada Northern constructed the track to Ely one hundred years ago, the community celebrated with a Railroad Day celebration. Now a century later, the Nevada Northern Railway Museum will celebrate the completion

The first Preserve Nevada conference was held in Ely on September 7-9, 2006. It was appropriate that Ely was chosen: the railroad is being considered as a National Historic Landmark and of course, the railroad will turn one hundred years old this coming September 29th. I was asked to give the opening speech for the

by Jerry Cesak The following is the second and final part of an article by Jerry Cesak as he relates his experience renting steam locomotive 93. I stood there in my pristine new overalls and work shirt, spotless engineer’s hat, immaculate gloves, sporting two camera bags, a water bottle, and the face of a six

by Jerry Cesak The following is an article by Jerry Cesak. He rented steam locomotive 93 last year. For those of us in the business-around steam locomotives on a daily basis-one of our greatest dangers is to become passé about this mechanical marvel. We sometimes forget how steam captured us and forget the sense of

[Editor’s Note: The Discovery Channel has a program called “Dirty Jobs” where Mike the host goes around the country doing a variety of dirty jobs. Well, the Nevada Northern Railway has a dirty job for Mike. What follows is an open letter inviting Mike to come to the Nevada Northern and get really dirty.] Dear

It has been said that one picture is worth a thousand words. The attached picture proves the point. The photo was taken Wednesday, July 12th at 11:18 a.m. It shows locomotive 93’s train discharging passengers at the shops. On the crossover track is locomotive 40 preparing to head out on the main to do a

by Stephen G. Swanson This weeks column compliments of Steve Swanson is a fascinating look at locomotive 20. Nevada Northern Railway steam locomotive No. 20, a 4-6-0 weighing 154,000 lbs. and initially assigned No. 8 (2nd), was originally part of a twenty locomotive order (number J-1698) started at Alco’s Rogers Works for export in 1905.

In the museum’s collection are copies of photographs showing the next to the last and the last passenger trains at Currie. These pictures document the end of an era on the Nevada Northern Railway. From 1906 through 1941, the Nevada Northern ran daily passenger trains between Ely and Cobre. It wasn’t a long trip just

There is an old saying, “You can’t see the forest, because all of those trees are in the way.” I recently went through a bout of being unable to see the forest. It is easy to get so wrapped up in all of the things that need to be done here at the museum that