Nevada Northern Railway Museum

Location: 11th Street and Avenue A in East Ely. Turn north at the stop light in East Ely and go down the hill to the historic train depot at the end of the street.

National Historic Landmark

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Mark Requa's Nevada Consolidated Copper Company built a 150-mile rail line from Cobre (near Wells) on the Southern Pacific line to Ely in 1905-06 to haul ore from the Copper Flat mines west of Ely.

Ore was loaded into railroad gondolas at Copper Flat for the trip to the McGill smelter. It traveled on a double-track trestle that was 1,720-feet long. The trestle burned in 1922 and was replaced with earth fill.

Passenger service and the "school train" carrying McGill youth to Ely High School ended in 1941.

BHP purchased the railroad in 1996 and again moved ore using the railway until 1999.

Today, the track between Ely and McGill is still used by the original steam and diesel engines brought to life through the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. The "best preserved short-line in America" carries tourists to Keystone corner near Ruth and back.

You take a step back in time when you hear the haunting sound of a steam train whistle float across the historic town of Ely.

Locomotive No. 40 is called the "Ghost Train" and was used for passenger service. It was called the "Ghost Train" because it was hidden by railroad workers to keep it from being sold for scrap.

Today both the #40 and #93 steam engines are still in service as part of a working historic railway museum. They take passengers from the East Ely yards along the same routes used to haul copper ore from the huge copper mines in Ruth to the smelter in McGill. Much of the original rolling stock at the museum has been restored and is being maintained using the original equipment left at the railway yard when Kennecott shut down.

On September 27, 2006 Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced the designation of the Nevada Northern Railway East Ely yard complex, locomotives and rolling stock in Ely, Nevada as a National Historic Landmark, acknowledging it as "the best-preserved, least altered, and most complete main yard complex remaining from the steam railroad era."

National Historic Landmark status is the highest recognition accorded by our nation to historic properties possessing "exceptional value or quality in illustrating and interpreting the heritage of the United States." Since the program began in 1935, fewer than 2,500 properties nationwide have achieved NHL designation with only 7 such places in Nevada.

Source: White Pine Public Museum Historic Marker.
Nevada Northern Railway Museum website (www.nnry.com)