Nevada Northern Engine House Tour

On Mother's Day we headed to Ely, Nevada to ride the Nevada Northern train. Moms ride free that day, so we figured it would be a great opportunity to get our little train aficionado a treat and do some relaxing and enjoy the scenery. We started at the East Ely Depot.

They have a scenic old cart near the loading area.

Desert Boy thought he was so cool with his conductor shirt on. Then came his friend Ava, who was totally outfitted as a conductor. We all got a kick out of watching them compare their outfits.

Then it was time for the real conductor to collect the tickets.

It was a windy, chilly day, typical Ely weather. We braved the weather part of the time to go to the outside car.

Lots of people chose to enjoy the views from the warmer coaches.

At the end of the ride, they offered a tour of the engine house. We had never done that before, so we got off and waved by to Ava and her dad.

Then it was time for our tour guide, an extremely knowledgeable gentleman (whose name I didn't catch), to start the tour.

Safety is obviously a big component of what they do, there are safety signs everywhere.

The signs next to the door read, "No admittance except employees only" and "Notice: Book agents, insurance agents, peddlers, ticket sellers, solicitors, politicians Positively Prohibited from visiting the offices of shops of this Company. Nevada Northern Co."

That part about the politicians is good.

The shop is huge, filled with all sorts of machines, tools, and other stuff.

Here's a giant lathe. Many of the machines are really large because the train parts they're used to make or repair are also very large.

Then the doors on the side open, and the diesel engine that had been pulling our train entered the engine house.

The Nevada Northern Railroad has a huge number of volunteers who help keep the trains running. It's quite an impressive effort.

Our tour group dwindled as others had to leave to do other things, so we ended up getting the tour guide all to ourselves. We went into the next room and found it full or trains.

The Nevada Northern has two working diesel engines and two working steam locomotives. They also have one of each that they have plans to repair. And they have many more housed there, probably because they have room and future plans.




I should have taken notes on the tour, because I'm afraid I don't re,member all the details. I guess I will have to take the tour again!
As we were leaving, we saw steam locomotive 93 heading into the engine house. It gets a bit of rest before it goes out on its next trip.

Adventure Walk in the Gorge

We started an adventure walk the other day with a beautiful sight--a flock of ibis flying overhead. These slightly-funny looking birds looked so graceful flying in a flock, all turning and swooping at the same moment.

They flew over our destination, a gorge just a few miles from our house. There are wonderful little canyons (or ravines, depending on your perspective) and badland-like formations. I had never really explored the gully, and it seemed like it would be a great time to do it while we had our adventurous company visiting.

We started off going down a steep path to get down into the gully. Then we found a way across the creek and started hiking with the steep, sandy walls rising above us.

Maria enjoyed the obstacles in the narrow ravines and got a little help now and then to surpass them.

She did the tunnel all by herself, though, in both directions. Sometimes it's really good to be small.

We enjoyed looking at a layer of sea shells in the ravine walls, indicating wetter times.

We also got a nature experience when we noticed Henry chasing tiny baby rabbits. Although he scared them, he fortunately didn't cause long-lasting damage. They were really cute and found places to hide from him relatively fast. The ravine was full of little burrows and hiding spots. It would be interesting to go at night and see what else was there.

My sister-in-law Sarah looking for more wildlife. I love her pose! She was truly awesome on this hike, squeezing through the tight side canyons, climbing up and over the stream, carrying Maria at times, and all this while she's seven months pregnant!

Maria was having a blast, and she even ventured fairly far from her parents to go see what else was in the canyon.

I missed seeing an owl fly from this hole, but the white droppings extending below it show that it's active.

After a while, my brother decided to climb out of the ravine, and he found a fun bone yard.

Desert Boy and Maria had fun checking out more "dinosaur" bones.

Some of them were heavy. They must have been big dinosaurs.

We found another fun-looking ravine to descend into the main gorge. It was tremendous fun going up and down, and the erosion patterns on the walls were fascinating. There were several small soil-pipe caves, where the water had eroded crawling-size holes through the softer sediments.

Once we got down into the main gorge and headed back to the van, we found that the bushes were too dense. So we found another ravine to head back up. Then we went across and found another place to go down, cross the side ravine, and then another gully to head back up. It was even more exciting than what "the map*" had told us.

*"The map" refers to Dora the Explorer, which has played a big role in many of our adventure hikes. This time we got out "the map" when we reached the dinosaur bones. It told us we had to go through the bushes, down a deep, dark gully, and then up a sandy hill to get to the van. What do you know, the map was right again!

My brother and Maria against a gorgeous background. We had such a good time and were never far from where we parked. This will definitely be a place to go back to for more adventures.

We made it back safely. Hurray, we did it! Lo hicimos! (Sorry, that's more Dora-speak. I've been indoctrinated.) And for a fitting end, we concluded the adventure walk with a snack. After all, we needed some energy for our next adventure, which was just around the corner (literally).

Desert Destination: Kolob Canyons

We had a last-minute getaway weekend vacation, and it was nice to get out and enjoy some different scenery. Although most of our time was spent shopping, eating out, and in the hotel pool, we also went to the northwestern part of Zion National Park, called Kolob Canyons. Not far from Interstate 15 is a five-mile scenic drive with several trails leading off from it. The trails were snow-covered and we weren't prepared to go on them (we have hiked some there in the past and it is quite relaxing). Instead we enjoyed the contrast of the bright, white snow on the orange sandstone with the evergreen accents.

We didn't manage to take too many photos. Desert Boy was very interested in hiking in the snow and even places where he could slide down steeper slopes. There weren't many visitors, so he was free to run and use up some of his boundless energy. The melting snow caused extra rocks to roll down some of the road cut areas--the power of erosion was clearly evident.

If you're not hiking, this is a quick detour that shows off some of the spectacular Utah scenery. There's also an advanced canyoneering route in this area; some day I'll have to return to give it a try. For more info about Kolob Canyons, click here.

Nevada Northern Railway: Food Train

This past weekend the Nevada Northern Railway held their special food trains. The price of admission to ride the train was canned food that would be donated to the Food Pantry to help those who needed food for Thanksgiving.

I took Desert Boy and three of his cousins. Desert Boy had ridden the train in May, and since then whenever we go to Ely we have to at least go and look at the trains.

The train was a lot colder in November than May, but we had warm coats, a blanket, and sat close to the wood-burning stove in the passenger car.

We pulled out of the train yard with Desert Boy making additional train noises. He sure likes the train whistle--"choo choo."

The train took us along nearly the entire length of the town of Ely, and I found it fascinating to look at the town from that perspective. The town seemed longer by train than by car, and the slow speed meant we could look the entire time and take it all in.

We passed the Renaissance Village, an architectural reconstruction of the town's early mining days.

The village was larger than I had expected, and seeing it made me really want to go and explore it. An adventure for another day!

We also got to see some of the town's brothels. This is an area of Nevada where they are legal. In the above photo, the Big Four Ranch brothel is in the foreground. In the background is the old football field and a kids' playground.

The Stardust Ranch is also in the neighborhood.

Here you can see some of the local businesses along main street.

Then we headed out of Ely and through an old tunnel.

Desert Boy has been watching the PBS kids' show Dinosaur Train, and he called the tunnel the time tunnel. His cousins had fun listening to and encouraging him. They kept spotting dinosaurs running away on the surrounding hills.

It was quite dark in the tunnel.

Eventually we came out the other side.

We found we hadn't traveled back to the Jurassic, instead we had traveled to the North Pole! Next weekend the train begins its Polar Express train rides, where Santa is waiting at the North Pole and there is hot chocolate and cookies for everyone. Sounds fun.

We continued further up the canyon, heading towards the town of Ruth, where the huge copper mines are located. Many of the pennies made before 1982 contain copper from these mines.

Before we got there, though, we saw plenty of other mining activity, reminding us why Nevada is nicknamed the Silver State. Mining is still a huge component of the economy.

The kids had to rest a little--seeing so much and the mesmerizing clickety clack of the wheels on the track made the train a good place for a little snooze.

As we got close to one of the huge mine tailings, we saw a mega-dump truck dump some of the overburden on top of one of the piles.

Then we went past some old, abandoned mine shafts.

This one had an interesting looking gate on it.

We ventured outside periodically, where the view was much better, but it was also much colder.

The train stopped under the bridge, and then we backed up on a side rail and turned around.

On the way back down, I noticed this sign above my nephew's head. It says "Nevada Brothel Owners' Assn. Supporting the Olympics in the spirit of the Old West. For historical or public relations tours please call..." Although I've mostly gotten used to living in Nevada, every once in awhile there's something that makes me blink twice.

The train has quite a few signs on it from when Salt Lake City hosted the Olympics in 2002.

It was relaxing riding back down the canyon...

...and going through town again.

We saw some really nice meadows and a stream running through them. In the background of the above photo is the train depot and shop.

Our train ride ended, and we had to get off the Ghost Train and reenter normal life in the current time period. It was a wonderful trip, and we were really surprised that more people hadn't taken advantage of it.

The Nevada Northern Railway will continue to have special train rides on selected weekends in the winter, and then when the weather warms up will go back to a six-day-a-week schedule. It is really a neat experience, and I look forward to the next ride. All Aboard!