The Nevada Northern Railroad, Ely, Nevada

Nevada Northern Railroad, Ely, NV, 10 x 9 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

After the opening reception and business meeting at the current American Society of Railway Artists Exhibition in Las Vegas recently (see previous posts), most of the attending ASRA members drove up to Ely, a town four and a half hours north of Vegas, to visit the Nevada Northern Railroad Museum.  Back in the early 20th century a copper company built a railroad to haul ore and smelted copper from a big mine up in the mountains to connect to the main line of the Southern Pacific.  After seventy years the mine closed and in 1984 the copper company donated the railroad to the town of Ely to be a railroad museum.  Unlike most railroad museums, which are lucky to have a station, a few miles of track, a few old locomotives and some rolling stock, this museum acquired an entire working railroad, including two operating steam engines that were purchased new from the factory in 1909.  They have diesel locomotives, freight and passenger cars, stations, offices, 143 miles of track, and all the maintenance facilities you need to keep a railroad functioning.  I drove up on a Saturday and spent two nights there to give me a full day Sunday to explore before I headed back to Vegas.  There is a great steakhouse located in what used to be the town jail where the food and drinks are excellent and priced at a fraction of what they would cost in Las Vegas, and it was great hanging out with other railroad artists.