A lot has been posted here about the NN, but here's another story.

This past week Mark opened up the air room so that we could look for some stencils. Another incredible place on the NN. Bulletins, Railway Age mags, forms, calendars, all left the way there were when the place closed down. Bins were full of spare parts. The test rack was in place. In a nearby office were the leather bound ledgers where records of car repairs were kept, all neatly lined up on their shelf they way they were when the door was closed and locked 20 years ago. Even the electricy works, albeit a few bulbs need replacement. Except for the dust, it is a perfect vignette of what railroading looking like in the old days.

The only sad thing about this is the NN museum is too short handed to really care for all this stuff, and the chances are high that the historic integrity of the place will slowly erode.

It is too bad that Ely doesn't have the ng. sex appeal of Chama, or is close to population centers like the EBT. It is truly a unique window to our past industrial heritage. But oh so vulnerable.

John West

jbwest@att.net

John -

it's located 500 miles from no-where. And, in the desert, heat ...

I took the ride east and up a small hill, nothing too great there. Perhaps the other direction is more appealing?

I too love the place for what it is - but - it's all that is there.

I mean no disrespect for the fine folks working/volunteering - but - reality is that's it is in the middle of no-where.

Jim



PSRM
Jim@psrm.org

No question, the NN is going to seperate those who like a tourist train ride from those who appreciate a real museum. The NN is unlikely to ever be a big success as a tourist railroad....you summed that up pretty well...although I will add that the current tourist train operation is self supporting financially. And actually because of the 6000 foot altitude, the temps are little different than Chama.

The challenge is preservation. Hopefully some folks who appreciate the unique preservation and museum opportunity will drive those 400 miles to help occasionally, but that is why it is so vulnerable. This is truely a unique collection worth the effort, most likely the last of its kind. Yet a work session is a success when two people show up.

jbwest@att.net

> it's located 500 miles from no-where. And,
> in the desert, heat ...

> I took the ride east and up a small hill,
> nothing too great there. Perhaps the other
> direction is more appealing?

> I too love the place for what it is - but -
> it's all that is there.

> I mean no disrespect for the fine folks
> working/volunteering - but - reality is
> that's it is in the middle of no-where.

> Jim

Actually, the Nevada Northern Railway in East Ely, Nev. is 245 miles north of Las Vegas, 240 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, and 318 miles east of Reno. Nevertheless, it is 500-some miles from the huge population centers of San Francisco, Los Angles, and San Diego. The elevation is about 6,200 feet and the average high temperature for the two warmest months is 87F and 86F in July and August, respectively. Many visitors travel to Ely from Las Vegas to get out of the summer heat.

Granted, there is no Interstate highway running nearby and the museum is generally a destination itself rather than a rest stop on the way to somewhere else. However, its isolation is one factor contributing to its appeal. If you want to “get away from it all” and at the same time experience a copper mining railway that operated from 1906 to 1983 and remains largely intact today, go to Ely. The city has a variety of hotels and motels, RV parks, and camping nearby. There are daily flights from Las Vegas if you choose not to drive across the Great Basin. Lehman Caves at the Great Basin National Park makes a wonderful day trip from Ely.

The museum has recently received a grant to begin restoration of the original depot at McGill. Plans are eventually to have this as a destination for the passenger trains from Ely to the former site of the reduction works. The trip in the other direction proceeds towards the open pit mines near Ruth but terminates at the Keystone wye. A mining company owns the track beyond to the town of Ruth, and an agreement would need to be negotiated to have Ruth as a destination. A new addition is the “Ping-Pong” train and caboose ride that runs about a mile between the East Ely depot and the White Pine Public Museum in Central Ely. Engine rentals, either steam or diesel, are available.

East Ely actually hosts two railway museums: The White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation (d.b.a. Nevada Northern Railway Museum) and the East Ely Railroad Depot Museum operated by the state of Nevada. The legislators in Carson City think enough of the Nevada Northern Railway as a historically significant part of Nevada that they recently allocated $500,000 for the purchase of the right-of-way from McGill Junction to Cobre from the Los Angles Department of Water and Power. Negotiations are in progress.

The state museum also obtained the entire corporate record of the Nevada Northern Railway dating from 1905 to 1983 that museum director Sean Pitts contends, “Ranks among the top 10 of any collection of company records in the United States.” The mission of the East Ely Railroad Depot Museum is to interpret the industrial copper mining and railway transportation heritage of Ely, Nevada and the surrounding communities in White Pine County.

The Nevada Northern Railway may be “in the middle of nowhere,” but in my opinion it’s well worth a visit.

Cheers,
Keith Albrandt


Nevada Northern Railway Museum
kalbran1@san.rr.com

> The legislators in Carson City think enough of
> the Nevada Northern Railway as a
> historically significant part of Nevada that
> they recently allocated $500,000 for the
> purchase of the right-of-way from McGill
> Junction to Cobre from the Los Angles
> Department of Water and Power. Negotiations
> are in progress.

How the heck did Los Angeles get involved with a (nearly) isolated rail line in NE Nevada? Now that I think about it, I believe there was a thread at the beginning(?) of the year regarding some legal action against NN. IIRC, a predatory company was trying to use legalese and what have you to seize some (all?) of the line for scrap. Does anyone know if these shenanigans are still bouncing around the courts or have they been deservedly quashed? Are the L.A. ownership and the lawsuit connected in any way?


mckay1995@comcast.net

LA Water and Power acquired the NN in anticipation of building a coal fired power plant near Cherry Creek, if I remember correctly. The line would have been rebuilt to carry coal. Then the plan got shelved. But one result is the original NN SD7, still in its original EMD/NN paint scheme, survives at a LAWP power plant elsewhere.

I believe the litigation over the attempted seizure and scrapping of the line has died a well deserved death, but perhaps somebody closer to that can confirm.

JBW

jbwest@att.net