Ely (Nevada Northern)

The Nevada Northern Railway Museum is not a typical railfan destination — it is a complete, operating railroad frozen in time. The 56-acre East Ely yard complex includes over 70 original buildings and structures, from the 1907 Mission Revival-style depot to the roundhouse, machine shop, and coaling facilities that have been in continuous use for over a century. The Smithsonian has called it the "best preserved, historic railroad bar none."

Visitors can walk freely through much of the yard during operating hours (8am-5pm daily), observing locomotive servicing, car movements, and crew preparations at close range. When a steam locomotive fires up, the sound carries across the entire Steptoe Valley — in the stillness of rural eastern Nevada, every whistle blast, bell ring, and exhaust chuff is startlingly clear.

Standard excursion trains depart from the original depot for 90-minute round trips toward Keystone (on the former Ore Line) or along the Hiline toward Lavon Junction and the old McGill smelter site. Trains typically consist of three to six vintage coaches, including an open-air car and a caboose available for upgrade. On-board restrooms and beverages are available. For the serious railfan, the museum offers a "Be the Engineer" program ($745-$970) where participants actually operate a steam or diesel locomotive under supervision on the main line.

Ely sits at approximately 6,400 feet elevation in the high desert of White Pine County, surrounded by sagebrush steppe and pinyon-juniper woodland. The Schell Creek Range and Egan Range rise abruptly in multiple directions, with peaks exceeding 11,000 feet providing rugged mountain backdrops to nearly every angle. The air is dry, thin, and remarkably clear — the area boasts some of the darkest night skies in the lower 48 states, which the museum exploits with its Star Train excursions featuring Great Basin National Park dark sky rangers.

The East Ely yard itself has an authentic, unmanicured character that sets it apart from polished museum railroads. Weathered wood, hand-lettered signs, oil-stained concrete, and the lingering scent of coal smoke and creosote give the complex a working-railroad atmosphere that feels genuinely lived-in rather than curated. In winter, snow blankets the yard and mountains from roughly November through March, creating dramatic contrast for photography. Summers are warm and dry with intense sunlight ideal for crisp locomotive portraits.

All rail activity at East Ely is heritage operation — no commercial freight has moved since the Kennecott Copper Corporation closed the McGill smelter on June 20, 1983, ending 78 years of common-carrier service.

Steam Roster: The museum owns three steam locomotives original to the railroad. No. 93, a 2-8-0 Consolidation built by ALCO in January 1909, was the workhorse of excursion service for decades and was restored in 1993. No. 40, a 4-6-0 Ten-Wheeler built by Baldwin in July 1910, is the official State Locomotive of Nevada and famous for pulling the Ghost Train of Old Ely. No. 81, a 2-8-0 Consolidation built by Baldwin in 1917, returned to service in September 2021 after a lengthy restoration. As of late 2025, all three steamers have been temporarily sidelined for various mechanical work — check nnry.com for current motive power assignments.

Diesel Fleet: Key operational diesels include Alco RS-2 No. 105 (built December 1949, one of the last operational RS-2s in North America), Alco RS-3 No. 109 (built 1950, a regular excursion locomotive), and EMD SD9 No. 204 (built 1956). The museum also rosters Baldwin S-12 No. 802, Alco RSD-4 No. 201 (the sole survivor of 36 built, returned to Ely in November 2021 after a 41-year absence), and several other diesel units.

Excursion Routes: The Keystone Route heads west on the former Ore Line toward the Ruth Mining District — a roughly 10-mile, 90-minute round trip through Tunnel No. 1 and into high desert canyons. The Hiline Route heads east toward Lavon Junction and the former McGill smelter site. Special themed trains run year-round: Ghost Train (October), Polar Express (December), Fireworks Express (January), Star Train (summer evenings), and the annual Winter Photography Charters (January-February).

The Nevada Northern is a photographer's paradise due to its authentic setting, leisurely train speeds, and cooperative museum staff who regularly stage equipment for photo events.

East Ely Yard: Morning light illuminates the roundhouse and coaling tower area. Steam locomotives being serviced beside the original coal tower and water tank make iconic compositions. The wye at the east end of the yard offers opportunities to photograph locomotives being turned.

Tunnel No. 1: Located just west of Ely on the Keystone route, this is the signature shot of the Nevada Northern. Westbound afternoon trains emerging from the portal with desert mountains behind them provide dramatic framing. A short walk from nearby road access places you above the portal for overhead angles.

Keystone Route: As trains head west toward Ruth, the track winds through open desert with mountain backdrops. Dirt roads roughly parallel the track in sections, allowing you to leapfrog the train (speeds rarely exceed 15-20 mph) for multiple compositions on a single run.

Night Photography: With minimal light pollution, East Ely is exceptional for night photography. Star-trail exposures with parked steam locomotives beside the coaling tower are a local specialty. The museum's annual Winter Photography Charters (January-February) attract railfan photographers worldwide, offering staged night scenes, smoke-filled run-bys, and choreographed multi-locomotive meets.

The Nevada Northern Railway was incorporated on June 1, 1905, to connect the copper mines of the Robinson District near Ely with the national rail network. The Utah Construction Company began building from Cobre — where the NN connected with the Southern Pacific's Overland Route — southward to Ely, completing the approximately 140-mile line in just over a year. On September 29, 1906, Mark Requa drove a symbolic copper spike at Ely, triggering a two-day celebration.

The "Ore Line," built in 1907-1908, bypassed Ely to the north and continued west through Robinson Canyon to the mines at Ruth, with a branch (the "Hiline") running northeast to the smelter at McGill. At peak production, dozens of ore trains ran daily. A daily passenger train, the Steptoe Valley Flyer, operated between East Ely and Cobre from 1906 until 1941, carrying an estimated 4.5 million passengers over its lifetime.

Corporate control passed to the Kennecott Copper Corporation in the 1930s-1940s. When copper prices collapsed in the late 1970s, Kennecott closed the Ruth mines in May 1978 and shut the McGill smelter on June 20, 1983. Beginning in 1986, Kennecott donated the Ore Line, yard, and shop facilities at East Ely to the White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation. The National Park Service designated the complex a National Historic Landmark on September 27, 2006, recognizing it as the most complete and least-altered steam-era railroad yard in the United States.

What makes the Nevada Northern extraordinary among heritage railroads is the completeness and authenticity of the entire operation. Most preserved railroads operate on short segments with reconstructed facilities — Ely retains 30 miles of original main line plus branches, over 70 original buildings and structures, and three steam locomotives that were delivered new to this railroad over a century ago. The machine shop still uses period tools, the dispatcher's office retains its original train-order signals, and the depot looks much as it did when it opened in 1907.

The museum's isolation in remote eastern Nevada — roughly equidistant from Salt Lake City and Las Vegas — means no suburban encroachment, no modern signals, and virtually no ambient light or noise. The "Be the Engineer" program lets visitors actually operate a full-sized, standard-gauge steam locomotive on the main line, an experience available at very few places in the world. The annual Winter Photography Charters have become a pilgrimage for rail photographers, offering staged freight and passenger operations with multiple steam and diesel locomotives in dramatic high-desert winter conditions.

The railroad has also earned pop-culture recognition: its depot appeared in the 2001 film Rat Race, the museum was featured in six episodes of American Restoration and a 2010 Modern Marvels episode titled "Super Steam," and the railroad's beloved shop cat "Dirt" (2008-2023) became an internet sensation after photographer Steve Crise's images went viral in 2019.