Nevada Northern Railway
1100 Avenue A
Ely, NV
A whole copper-era railroad frozen in time, where the original steam engines still fire up in the yard that built them.
The Nevada Northern Railway is not a museum built to look like a railroad. It is an actual railroad, preserved so completely that walking into the East Ely yard feels like stepping into 1910. The depot, the office with its ledgers, the engine house, the machine shop, and the foundry all survive, and the same steam and diesel locomotives that hauled copper a century ago still fire up and roll out under their own power.
The line was laid in 1905 and 1906 by Mark Requa's Nevada Consolidated Copper Company, running about 150 miles from the Southern Pacific mainline at Cobre down to the copper mines around Ely. When the mines closed in 1983, the whole operation, engines and shops and paperwork, was simply left in place, which is why it is now considered the best-preserved short line in the country and a National Historic Landmark.
What Guests Love
- Riding behind a genuine century-old steam locomotive that has never left the line it was built for
- Wandering the original engine house, machine shop, and foundry where the engines are still repaired by hand
- The rare wooden passenger coaches and the sense of a working yard, not a static display
- Night photo shoots, the Polar Express season, and be-the-engineer programs that let you run a locomotive
Worth Knowing
- Ely sits at high elevation on a remote highway, so fuel up and dress in layers, as mornings stay cool even in summer
- Excursions run on a seasonal schedule and popular events sell out, so plan ahead rather than dropping in
- The yard is a working industrial site, so stay with your group and mind the tracks and equipment
- Winter trains run in real cold, which is part of the charm but calls for warm clothing
Details
Ely, NV
Learn about Nevada Northern Railway
The railroad that copper built
In the early 1900s the mountains west of Ely held one of the largest copper deposits in North America, but there was no way to move the ore to market. Mark Requa's company answered by building a railroad, about 150 miles of it, from the transcontinental line at Cobre south to the mines and the smelter town of McGill. The first passenger train reached Ely in 1906, and for decades the railway hauled copper out and hauled nearly everything else in.
The line carried people too. A daily passenger run served the mining towns, and a school train carried McGill children to the high school in Ely until 1941. When the copper mines finally closed in 1983 the railroad shut down, but instead of scrapping it, the community and later a foundation kept the entire complex intact, engines cold in the roundhouse and tools still on the benches.
A living steam shop
What sets the Nevada Northern apart is that it still works. The collection includes original steam locomotives, rare wooden passenger cars, Kennecott diesels, dozens of early freight cars, and a machine shop and foundry that are not props but functioning tools. Volunteers and crew maintain and rebuild the equipment on site, using the same shop that served the railroad when it was hauling ore.
Because the machinery survives together, the yard tells the whole story of how a steam railroad lived: how an engine was watered and coaled, turned on a table, and pulled into the house for repair. In 2006 the East Ely yard was designated a National Historic Landmark for exactly this completeness, a rare surviving picture of turn-of-the-century steam railroading.
Riding the line
Today you can ride the surviving track, often behind steam, on excursions that run out of the East Ely depot across the high desert. The railway is known for going beyond the standard ride: night photography sessions lit for old-time drama, be-the-engineer experiences that put you in the cab, and a full holiday season of Polar Express trains that fills the yard with families.
The pace is unhurried and the setting is vast, sagebrush basin rimmed by bare mountains, which makes the small human scale of a steam train feel all the more impressive. It is the kind of place where railroad people come from around the world, and where a first-time visitor leaves understanding what a steam locomotive actually is.
Ely and the Great Basin around it
Ely grew up as a copper and ranching hub in one of the emptiest quarters of the Great Basin, and it still feels that way, a real working town rather than a resort. The murals scattered through downtown and the historic Hotel Nevada anchor a main street that has changed less than most.
The country around Ely is a road-tripper's reward. US-50 rolls east and west across empty valleys and forested passes, Great Basin National Park and its bristlecone pines rise to the east, and a scatter of ghost towns and Pony Express sites lie within a day's drive. The railway is the anchor, but the whole region rewards slowing down.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Ely
Great Basin National Park
About 65 miles east
Wheeler Peak, ancient bristlecone pines, the Lehman Caves, and some of the darkest night skies in the country, all in one of the least-crowded national parks.
Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park
About 20 miles south
Six beehive-shaped stone ovens built in the 1870s to make charcoal for the silver smelters, standing intact in a quiet pinyon valley.
Cave Lake State Park
About 15 miles southeast
A high mountain reservoir in the pines above Ely, good for trout fishing, paddling, and a cool escape from the desert heat.