Nevada Northern Railway - Spring 2015 Trip

 We needed to go to Ely and I asked the kids if they wanted to ride the train or go swimming. They both chose to ride the train. (Wow, that says a lot since they LOVE swimming!) We got our tickets early, as it happened to be a free day for locals, did some errands, and then headed back. We found one of Desert Girl's friends to join us for the ride.

The kids love getting their ticket checked by the conductor as they board the train.

Once we got on, we found another surprise: more friends!! What a great day.

It was also volunteer day on the train, with several booths set up in one car showing off volunteer opportunities.


The girls found some fire chief hats. Desert Girl had decided the day before she was also going to wear a cape. I think capes are always in fasion.

After awhile inside, we headed out, where the girls posed.

And posed some more.

It was a beautiful day for a ride, and the train was nearly full.

Engine 40 took us easily up towards Ruth.

The mine tailings at Ruth are always impressive. Basically they moved a mountain to extract a lot of copper and a little of some other metals.

We opted to spend most of the downhill trip outside.

But first we had to turn around. We backed up, the engineers watching closely.

The little yellow caboose led the way.

We backed into Keystone Gulch, population 20. No, make that 18. Or maybe 17.

 Fortunately the gallows were empty as we visited the little town.

On that afternoon, the population was zero.

But some bandits appeared and wanted to know if anyone would join their gang.

No one did, so we headed back to Ely. We did pause as one guy got kicked off the train. We were all impressed. If you misbehave, you have a long walk back. Fortunately everyone in our group stayed on the train.

We saw some smaller mines on the way back.

The tunnels are always highlights of the trip.

We noticed a fire truck as we went along town. Then we saw a big blackened area--a fire right next to the tracks! Did the train start it? I don't know, but fortunately the fire fighters kept it contained.

We crossed the road...

…and enjoyed the scenic views.

Have I mentioned it was a really beautiful day for a train ride?

Almost back

 All that was left was to get on the right tracks. One of the conductors got off to throw the switch.

Then we had a big steam blast, and before we knew it we were back at the station.

It was a very relaxing couple of hours with beautiful scenery. The trains run all summer and into the fall. For more info, check out Nevada Northern Railway's website. All aboard!

The Polar Express

 We went over the hills (recently snow covered and with shifting clouds)…and through the woods (as long as you consider pinyon and juniper at the mountain passes as woods)...

…to the Polar Express we go. We found it in East Ely, with beautiful sunlight on the Schell Creek Range.

The Polar Express is a big money maker for the Nevada Northern Railway. They had three passenger cars hooked up to a diesel engine, and three trains running on Saturday. We opted for the 4:30 train.

They have a special license so they can follow the story of The Polar Express. We got our Believe tickets and boarded the train.

We went with friends, and the kids had so much fun hanging out together. The train was nicely decorated.

As we pulled away from the East Ely Depot, waiters adorned in white coats passed out hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. We all enjoyed those!

We listened to the story of The Polar Express as the waiters showed pictures from the book. We also had fun looking out the window to check out the holiday lights.

Before long we arrived at the North Pole, where Santa and an elf got on the train. Then came the hardest part: waiting for Santa to arrive at our train car. The kids were getting quite impatient. We probably waited about 45 minutes, so it was a long time to be parked there, the windows fogging up. The waiters tried to help time pass by singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

Finally, Santa arrived. Desert Girl is still somewhat scared of Santa, but Desert Boy isn't. Even though he doesn't believe, he still doesn't hesitate to tell Santa what he wants (something his parents aren't going to get him, and he knows it).

The way back was relaxing with the click clack of the train wheels over the track. We sang some Christmas carols and then entertained ourselves.

I almost forgot the best part of the trip. A waiter mentioned soon after we got on the train that we were heading north to the North Pole. Desert Boy said in a loud voice, "We're not going north!" He was right, we were heading west. Everyone started laughing, it was delivered just at the right time and the right tone of voice. The conductor came over and tried to convince him, but Desert Boy knew better.

Nevada State Railroad Museum

We love trains, so we were very happy to go to the Nevada State Railroad Museum on our recent fall break. We actually went twice, as the first time was at the end of the day so we needed more time to see it all and to go for a train ride.

 They had out the special McKeen Motor Car to celebrate Nevada Day. They've done a beautiful job restoring it.

 Our friend Dave also loves trains and came with us.

The train went three times around the tracks on the property. It wasn't long, but it was fun!

The back of the car was especially beautiful.

Then we went over and operated the hand car. Twice. It was great. Inside the museum they had beautiful engines and interesting displays. The kids' favorite part inside was the HO model train and the Thomas the Train toy table, but the part they remember the best was the hand car.

Nevada Northern Railway's Plein Air Outdoors Art Festival

 A couple weekends ago I had the opportunity to participate in Nevada Northern Railway's Plein Air Outdoors Art Festival. This is the fourth year they've had the event, but my first to attend. I went as one of 16 vendors that included artists, photographers, food vendors, crafts booths, and product booths.

The weekend kicked off with a train trip pulled by Steam Engine 93. It sure is magnificent.

We left from the East Ely Depot.

This logo is on the tickets, too.

We went with friends, which made the trip even more fun. A highlight for the kids is getting the tickets torn and later stamped by the conductor.

Harold narrated the trip, telling us about the history of the train and Ely, as well as information about some of the sites on the way.

The girls were all chill.

We sat outside briefly on the way up the canyon, but that's when they're really shoveling coal, so you get a lot more cinders on you. So we stayed mainly inside going up but mainly outside heading back down the canyon.

Angie was the engineer for our trip and we had a smooth ride.

A game of I-Spy was lots of fun on the way down. We looked for and found lots of holes in the rock, both mines and little solution caves.

The kids posing. I don't get many of them this way (sitting down together).

Everyone on board seemed to have a good time.

Deanna and her girls.

A highlight of the trip is going through the two tunnels. Here's the older tunnel. Some people were preparing for the cinders. They weren't bad.

The next day Deanna and I set up canopies and displayed photographs and books. I didn't have any train photos, but Deanna had quite a collection from her Western Mountain Photography.

The kids constructed a train out of boxes and other kids were encouraged to help.

It was nice having both of us there because we could take turns watching each other's booth and then wander over to the other booths. I met Colleen Reynolds, an artist from Salt Lake City, who was painting the scene in front of her. This was so impressive to watch!

It was a fun weekend and we learned a lot about being at an art event in a capacity different than a visitor. Thanks so much to Dany Feinstein of NNRY for organizing this event!

The railroad has the Ghost Train coming up in October, which people who have been on it have told me is really fun--and spooky!