East Ely’s rail yard looks like the workers just stepped out for lunch, in 1941

The best-preserved steam-era rail yard in America

Out in eastern Nevada, along a stretch of highway people call the Loneliest Road in America, there’s a railroad yard that looks like its workers just stepped out for lunch. Tools on the workbenches.

Locomotives in the shop. Sixty buildings still standing on 56 acres, almost exactly as they were left on the last working day. The Nevada Northern Railway Historic District in East Ely isn’t a recreation.

It’s the real thing, and you can ride it, drive it, and sleep inside it.

Copper ore built this railroad from the desert floor up

In the early 1900s, miners hit large copper deposits near Ely in White Pine County, and the rush was on.

The Nevada Northern Railway got incorporated in 1905 to connect those mines to the national rail network, running about 140 miles north to meet the Southern Pacific Railroad.

On Sept. 29, 1906, workers drove a final spike made of local copper to mark the line’s completion, and the town celebrated for two days straight.

The railway spent the next seven decades hauling copper ore from the mines at Ruth to the smelter at McGill.

The smelter closed and left everything exactly where it sat

By the late 1970s, copper prices had dropped hard and the ore reserves were thinning out. The McGill smelter closed on June 20, 1983, and the railway shut down that same day.

Workers walked out expecting to be back in a few weeks, the way things had gone before when prices shifted. They never came back.

Nobody modernized the yard. Nobody stripped it for parts.

Between 1985 and 1987, Kennecott donated its remaining Nevada Northern assets to the White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation, and what they handed over was nearly a century of railroad history sitting untouched.

The same tracks that carried copper now carry you

The 90-minute excursion ride leaves from the East Ely Depot and follows the same route once used to haul ore, climbing through a tunnel and up into Robinson Canyon toward the historic Ruth copper mining district.

Steam locomotives pull the train when available, including century-old engines that still run on original track. You can ride in a coach car or an open-air car, depending on how much wind you want in your face.

After the ride, an included tour takes you through the engine house and yard where those locomotives have been maintained for more than 100 years.

Three original steam locomotives, and one is Nevada’s own

The collection holds three of the railroad’s original steam engines: No. 40, No. 81, and No. 93. No. 40, a Baldwin-built engine from 1910, was named the official State Locomotive of Nevada in 2009.

It came out of service in 2020 for a federally required overhaul, funded in part by a Save America’s Treasures grant of nearly $487,160.

A crew of young mechanics is doing the restoration work, learning steam locomotive repair from the ground up to keep those skills from disappearing.

In early 2026, No. 81 was listed in service while No. 93 was under repair, so check the current locomotive schedule before you go.

Get behind the throttle of a full-size locomotive

The Nevada Northern is one of very few places in the world where you can actually drive a full-size train.

The “Be the Engineer” program puts you at the controls of a steam or diesel locomotive for a 14-mile run along the historic route, with hands-on instruction before you touch anything.

If that’s not enough, the “Railroad Reality Week” program runs an entire week where you work the machine shop, repair track, and learn what it actually took to run a 19th-century railroad. Both programs book up, so plan ahead.

The Great Basin Star Train sells out a full year ahead

The Star Train might be the railway’s most talked-about experience.

The train departs before sunset and climbs above Steptoe Valley, giving you wide views of the desert as the sky goes dark.

At a remote stop called Star Flat, astronomers set up telescopes and walk you through what you’re seeing. Ely sits at about 6,500 feet, and the skies out here rank among the darkest in the lower 48.

On a clear night, you can see the Milky Way, planets, and distant galaxies with no equipment at all. Tickets go fast, often a year out.

The machine shop still smells like a working railroad

Walk into the original machine shop and it’s hard to believe nobody punched in this morning. Tools sit on workbenches.

Locomotives stand at different stages of repair. The blacksmith shop, where workers once forged or fixed parts by hand, is one of the more striking stops on the self-guided walk.

The museum also holds a detailed archive of company records, payroll ledgers, and photographs going back to the railroad’s earliest days. Nothing was moved out.

Nothing was cleared away. It’s all still here.

Holiday and seasonal trains keep the calendar full

The railroad runs themed excursions year-round. In October, the Haunted Ghost Train of Old Ely rolls out with costumes encouraged and spooky stories along the route.

December brings Santa’s Reindeer Flyer, complete with elves, caroling, and a visit from Santa on board.

Around the Fourth of July, a fireworks excursion heads toward the Ruth mining district and stops at a viewing point for the town’s show.

The Fire and Ice Fireworks Express is reportedly the only fireworks display launched from a moving steam train. A Pumpkin Patch train runs in the fall with a family-friendly story performed on board.

Spend a night in a real caboose parked in the yard

If you want to stay after everyone else goes home, the museum rents out a real caboose parked right in the rail yard. It has bunk beds and an oil stove.

No air conditioning, no modern add-ons, just the high desert quiet and a sky full of stars overhead. The overnight stay pairs well with an evening train ride or an early start at the machine shop the next morning.

Ely is also the closest major town to Great Basin National Park, about 60 miles east, which makes this a natural home base for a few days in the region.

The 1907 depot holds records that never left the building

The East Ely Depot is the oldest and best-preserved building in White Pine County.

The ground floor was built from rusticated stone quarried at Cherry Creek, about 46 miles north, with a stuccoed second story above it. The Nevada Northern still runs its ticket office from the first floor.

Upstairs, the Nevada State Railroad Museum holds original office equipment, telegraph machines, ticket stamps, and payroll records that have sat in the same building since they were used.

The depot went on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

A Smithsonian curator called it the best preserved railroad anywhere

A Smithsonian curator emeritus has said the Nevada Northern is the best-preserved historic railroad, bar none. The site draws visitors from across the country and drives tourism throughout White Pine County.

Annual ridership has grown over the years, pushed along by the Star Train and national media attention.

The railway also runs a national training program for preserving and maintaining historic steam engines and rail cars.

Plans are in place to extend the operating line to McGill using a federal grant, though the museum can give you the current status when you visit.

Visit the Nevada Northern Railway Historic District in Ely

You’ll find the Nevada Northern Railway Historic District at 1100 Avenue A in East Ely, right off the junction of U.S. Route 50 and U.S. Route 93.

The museum is open year-round, though train schedules change by season, so check ahead before you plan around a specific ride.

Admission prices vary depending on what you want to do, with excursion trains and specialty programs priced separately from general admission.

The official website has current schedules, pricing, and booking for the Engineer program and Star Train.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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