The BHP Nevada Railroad was a

shortline railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

that operated in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

from 1996 to 1999.

BHP BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

acquired the line from

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, Nevada, Ely to ...

. Constructed by

Utah Construction Company The Utah Construction Company was a construction company founded by Edmund Orson Wattis Jr., Warren L. Wattis and William. H. Wattis in 1900. History The Wattis Brothers received funding from David Eccles, Thomas Dee, Joseph Clark and Jam ...

in 1908, the railroad hauled copper ore concentrate from BHP's concentrator at Riepetown to Shafter, Nevada. At Shafter the railroad interchanged with the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

and the ore continued to BHP's

smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron, copper, silver, tin, lead and zin ...

San Manuel, Arizona San Manuel is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. The population was 3,551 at the 2010 census. San Manuel was built in 1953 by Del E. Webb Construction Company as a company town to serve the then-new San Ma ...

. BHP is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

-based company that took over Magma Copper, the owner of the Robinson Mine at

Ruth, Nevada Ruth is a census-designated place (CDP) in White Pine County, Nevada, United States. Founded in 1903, it had a population of 440 at the 2010 census. Ruth was built as a company town for the adjacent Robinson Mine, a large open-pit copper mine ...

, in January 1996. The line ran south from a connection with the

at Shafter to Ely.

Locomotives

The BHP Nevada Railroad used five former

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

EMD SD9 The EMD SD9 is a model of diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1954 and June 1959. An EMD 567C 16-cylinder engine generated . Externally similar to its predecessor, the SD7, the SD9 was built with ...

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

s built between 1954 and 1956 to operate over the line. They were numbered #201 – 205. For switching and local operations the railroad used two GE 70-ton

switcher A switcher locomotive (American English), shunter locomotive (British English), station pilot (British English), or shifter locomotive (Pennsylvania Railroad terminology) is a locomotive used for maneuvering railway vehicles over short distanc ...

s from the Santa Maria Valley Railroad. BHP also had one

ALCO RS-3 The ALCO RS-3 is a , B-B diesel-electric locomotive manufactured from May 1950 to August 1956 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and its subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW). A total of 1,418 were produced: 1,272 for American railro ...

. The switchers were also built in the 1950s and numbered #12 and #13.

Nevada Northern Railway Museum

BHP ended up turning over its locomotives and rolling stock to the

Nevada Northern Railway Museum The Nevada Northern Railway Museum is a railroad museum and heritage railroad located in Ely, Nevada, owned by the State of Nevada and operated by a historic foundation dedicated to the preservation of the Nevada Northern Railway. Museum ac ...

as part of a settlement over their track lease agreement. A small portion of the BHP Nevada Railroad was operated over the Nevada Northern Railway Museum tracks with

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may c ...

between East Ely and Ruth. The line was abandoned in 1999 when copper mining was discontinued, however in 2004 the mines were reopened, and the copper concentrate was hauled by road. The disused line between Ely and Cobre was acquired by the city of Ely in 2006. Former BHP Nevada #204 was part of a contest by the Nevada Northern Railway Museum to design a locomotive to celebrate the

United States Semiquincentennial The United States Semiquincentennial, also called the Bisesquicentennial, the Sestercentennial, America250 or the Quarter Millennium, will be the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. Festivities will mark various e ...

. BHP Nevada #204 will be renumbered as #250 and repainted in the winning design for the 2026 celebrations.

Route

Stations, listed from north to south: * Shafter, Nevada (connection with the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

, former Western Pacific) *Decoy *Dolly Varden *Mizpah *Currie *Goshute *Greens *Cherry Creek *Schellbourne (Ray) *Requa (Raiff) *Warm Springs *Steptoe *Glenn *McGill Junction *J&M Spur *Hiline Junction (Hi Line Junction) *Mosier * East Ely *Ore Yard *Calumet *Tunnel 1 *Lane *Keystone *Lone Tree Road *

Ruth Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ark ...

*Sunshine *Tripp Pit *Riepetown

References

Other sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhp Nevada Railroad Defunct Nevada railroads Mining in Nevada Mining railways in the United States 1996 establishments in Nevada 1999 disestablishments in Nevada Railway companies established in 1996 Railway companies disestablished in 1999 Copper mining in the United States

Locomotives

Nevada Northern Railway Museum

Route

See also

References

Other sources