The Nevada Northern Railway Museum is a

railroad museum A railway museum is a museum that explores the history of all aspects of rail related transportation, including: locomotives (steam, diesel, and electric), railway cars, trams, and railway signalling equipment. They may also operate historic e ...

and

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

located in

Ely, Nevada Ely (, ) is the largest city and county seat of White Pine County, Nevada, United States. Ely was founded as a stagecoach station along the Pony Express and Central Overland Route. In 1906 copper was discovered. Ely's mining boom came later tha ...

and operated by a historic foundation dedicated to the preservation of the

Nevada Northern Railway The Nevada Northern Railway was a railroad in the U.S. state of Nevada, built primarily to reach a major copper producing area in White Pine County, Nevada. The railway, constructed in 1905–06, extended northward about from Ely to connection ...

. Museum activities include restoration and operation of historic railroad equipment and various hands on experiences and a variety of special events including seasonal trains for Halloween and Santa-themed trains for Christmas. This is one of the few places in the world where visitors can actually operate a steam locomotive, but this experience requires some advanced planning.

Location and history

The museum is situated at the East Ely Yards, which are part of the

. The site is listed on the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as the Nevada Northern Railway East Ely Yards and Shops and is also known as the "Nevada Northern Railway Complex". The rail yards were designated a

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

on September 27, 2006. The site was cited as one of the best-preserved early 20th-century railroad yards in the nation, and a key component in the growth of the region's

copper mining Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, loca ...

industry. Developed in the first decade of the 20th century, it served passengers and freight until 1983, when the Kennecott Copper Company, its then-owner, donated the yard to a local non-profit for preservation. The property came complete with all of the company records of the Nevada Northern from its inception.

Collection

The museum collection includes three of the railroad's original

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

s, an

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or g ...

and several

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...

s, as well as a collection of maintenance equipment and numerous historic freight and passenger rail cars. Two of the steam locomotives, #81 and #93, are in operation in regularly scheduled events throughout the year; with #40 currently out of service for an overhaul. Locomotive #40 is the official State Locomotive of Nevada. The museum also maintains an extensive fleet of its original rolling stock, including passenger cars, wood-side box cars, ore cars, and work trains, all dating from the 1910s. It has the oldest operating tank car and the oldest operating coal-fired steam crane on any American railroad. During the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internationa ...

, held in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, the Nevada Northern Railway was part of the ''Olympic Steam Team'', carrying spectators to the

Soldier Hollow Soldier Hollow is a cross-country ski venue located at the mouth of a hollow of the same name about southeast of Salt Lake City in Wasatch Mountain State Park in northwestern Wasatch County, Utah, United States. The venue was created for the ...

Olympic venue on the

Heber Valley Railroad The Heber Valley Railroad (HVRX) is a heritage railroad based in Heber City, Utah. It operates passenger excursion trains along a line between Heber City and Vivian Park, which is located in Provo Canyon. The HVRX carries over 110,000 pass ...

; with locomotive #93 sent to Utah to participate. The day prior to the Opening Ceremony of the games, #93 joined Heber's two steam locomotives in a triple-headed train, and used to transport the Olympic flame from Soldier Hollow to

Heber City, Utah Heber City is a city and county seat of Wasatch County, Utah, United States. The population was 11,362 at the time of the 2010 census. It is located 43 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. History Heber City was first settled in 1859 by Rober ...

as part of the torch relay. In late October 2020, locomotive #40 was taken out of service for its

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail sa ...

(FRA) mandated 1,472-day inspection and overhaul. 2-8-0 #81 returned to service in September 2021, after undergoing a boiler test in 2020. Also in storage at the museum is Steptoe Valley Mining & Smelting #3, a

H.K. Porter, Inc. H.K. Porter, Inc. (Porter) manufactured light-duty railroad locomotives in the US, starting in 1866. The company became the largest producer of industrial locomotives, and built almost eight thousand of them. The last locomotive was built in 1 ...

steam locomotive which was used at the McGill smelter and had a brief preservation career on the early Niles Canyon Railway.

Depot building

The ''East Ely Depot'' served passengers on the Nevada Northern. The Mission Revival style depot was designed by Frederick Hale and built in 1907. It reflects a standardized vernacular that borrows primarily from the

Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...

style, as well as from

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

. The two story depot is set on a stone foundation. The ground floor is rusticated stone, separated from the upper level by a painted stone

belt course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the ...

, with a

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

ed second story. The gables are curvilinear in the accepted Mission Revival style. The well-preserved interior retains separate men's and women's waiting rooms, with baggage and express rooms. Offices are on the second floor. The depot was a significant location on the Nevada Northern as the chief embarkation point for the

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

mining region of White Pine County. The location of the depot was a matter of controversy between the railroad and residents of Ely, who successfully sued the railroad to change the depot's name from Ely to East Ely to reflect its distance from the main townsite. The railroad, originally owned by the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company, was transferred to the

Kennecott Copper Company Kennecott Utah Copper LLC (KUC), a division of Rio Tinto Group, is a mining, smelting, and refining company. Its corporate headquarters are located in South Jordan, Utah. Kennecott operates the Bingham Canyon Mine, one of the largest open-pit c ...

in 1933 when it took over Consolidated's mining operations. Passenger service on the Nevada Northern stopped in 1941, and the depot was used for Kennecott offices until 1985. The state of Nevada acquired the depot in 1990 for the museum. The East Ely Depot was listed on the

in 1984.

Heritage Railroad

The museum & Ely City own the entire original Nevada Northern Railway route, however only a small segment from Ruth to Ely is currently in use by the railroad for the tourist trains; plans to reopen the line to McGill were announced on October 14, 2021, by way of a $10 million federal grant. Another isolated segment connecting to the Union Pacific mainline at Shafter, Nevada is used for car storage.

In popular culture

The depot building was used for scenes in the 2001 film, ''

Rat Race A rat race is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. The phrase equates humans to rats attempting to earn a reward such as cheese, in vain. It may also refer to a competitive struggle to get ahead financially or routinely. The term is ...

''. The museum appeared in a 2010 episode of ''

Modern Marvels ''Modern Marvels'' is an American worldwide television series that formerly aired on the History Channel and is currently shown on Story Television. The program focuses on how technologies affect and are used in modern society. It is History's ...

'', titled "Super Steam." The museum also appeared in six episodes of '' American Restoration'', and was referenced in a 2017 episode of ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

''. The Railroad's locomotive #40 was featured prominently in the 2017 J-pop music video "Black Train" by artists

Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, poet, and human-rights advocate, who is a prominent figure in Japanese popular music. He has sold more than 20 million records worldwide and has appeared in movies and television dramas. His wife Etsu ...

with the artist riding the front of the locomotive while singing
In 2019
the railroad's shop cat "Dirt"
went viral after photos of him were posted online by professional photographer Steve Crise. Born in 2008, the cat has been named the railroad's mascot. Dirt passed away on January 10, 2023. The museum announced the cat's death publicly the following day along with plans to place two bronze statues of Dirt on site, with one near the cat's grave site, and one in the machine shop where the cat lived.

References

External links

Nevada Northern Railway Museum website
{{authority control 1905 establishments in Nevada Buildings and structures in White Pine County, Nevada Great Basin National Heritage Area Heritage railroads in Nevada Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada Museums in White Pine County, Nevada National Historic Landmarks in Nevada National Register of Historic Places in White Pine County, Nevada Railroad museums in Nevada Railroad-related National Historic Landmarks Railway stations in the United States opened in 1905 Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada Transport infrastructure completed in 1905 Rail infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada Former railway stations in Nevada