There's a museum within the museum here! You can visit both for the price
of one.
The first half of this "duo" is the Nevada Northern Railway Foundation. It owns and operates all of the trains and
railroad experiences in Ely. This includes all of the original Nevada
Northern main-line, the yards, the enginehouse, the maintenance shop, the
bunkhouse and caboose that you can sleep in, the
locomotives, the historic freight cars in the yard, the
coaches you ride in, and the depot that you depart from.
What's left? Years ago, when the independent, non-profit foundation began
preserving what you now experience, cash was short. The State of Nevada
agreed to contribute to the restoration on a one-time basis by assuming
ownership and maintenance of the second floor of the depot and the original freighthouse just south of the depot.
What's in it for you? You now get to see just what an American short-line
railroad looked like from its headquarters offices where the executive and
financial management team worked. As you begin to look around you will
appreciate that this was an efficient, no-nonsense ingenuity-first outfit from the very beginning. It had to be to survive in
the rugged area that it served.
The second floor of the depot (historic executive offices) and the original
freighthouse is now operated by the State of Nevada as the East Ely Railroad Depot
Museum, a unit of the Nevada State Railroad Museum, and staffed with a full-time
curator. The State was also deeded the collection of
Nevada Northern corporate records housed in the offices.
Virtually every record is there, starting with the original deposit book
that Mark Requa used to start the railroad, and ending with the
transportation sheet of the Nevada Northern Railway's last day of
revenue operation in June 1983. It appears to be the most comprehensive paper record of any American railroad.
According to curator Sean Pitts, it "ranks among
the top ten of any collection of company records in the United States."
There has been substantial academic research supported by this amazing slice of
time in America's industrial history.
You will receive a free ticket to visit the State's Museum-within-the-Museum
with each admission or train tickets issued by the Nevada Northern Railway
Museum. Getting a
pass to visit the second floor offices is the easy part. Now you have to
find out how to get up to the second floor. Don't worry. The broad,
steep steps are only a few feet away from where our trains arrive and depart, and we will show you exactly where they are.
Note that the State of Nevada's East Ely Railroad Depot Museum-within-the-Museum has shorter hours than the
Railroad's Depot
Gift Shop and Ticket Desk. The State's second-floor museum is open
Monday through Friday from 8am to 4:30pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 4pm,
so plan accordingly.
Many visitors like to plan to be here when the trains are running. Here's the full schedule:
January 2021
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February 2021
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March 2021
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April 2021
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May 2021
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June 2021
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July 2021
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August 2021
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September 2021
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October 2021
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November 2021
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Click here if you still have a question about this program.
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