For those of you who have been following me for a while you’re probably used to seeing stories about wild places off the beaten path. Sometimes, however, in my travels I go to other places. I am a history buff, and this spring some friends and I took a road trip over to Ely, Nevada. There is a historic railroad museum there with some working locomotives from around the turn of the last century. The rail yard and engine house are real working facilities. The locomotives are repaired there right on site, many times with parts built on site as well. If you go, I highly recommend the “yard tour”.
Ely (pronounced with the “y” sounding like a long “e”) is a small town in northeastern Nevada not too far from the Great Basin National Park. Ely grew up as a mining town, so there’s a lot of history there. Like any town in Nevada, there are some casinos as well. Ely is also on “The Loneliest Road in America”. Driving across this road in the early spring it is appropriately named. We didn’t see too much traffic.
We had been having some unusually warm weather in the early part of April this year. So my friends and I figured it would be a nice time to take our cars on a little road trip over to Wendover and then on to Ely the next day. Of course spring in the Intermountain West is never predictable. By the late afternoon on the way to Wendover, we could see the storm rolling in from the northwest. That evening became more windy, colder and rainy. As we drove toward Ely the next morning the cold rain gave way to snow in the mountain passes. Let me just say this. Rear wheel drive muscle cars with ultrahigh performance summer tires are really not the best vehicles to have in a snowstorm. I don’t know how many times I wished I’d taken the 4 wheel drive truck. The drive between Wendover and Ely came with a few sphincter tightening moments. Once we got off the mountain passes and headed back down into Ely, the roads cleared and the temperatures rose above freezing. Finally, we could all take a deep breath and relax.
I’m just going to let you enjoy the rest of the photos from the trip. All of these photographs were shot with my Motorola phone, so they may not be quite as sharp as the other pictures that you have seen from me. I wasn’t really intending to take many pictures, but of course I am me. I’m always taking pictures. So I hope you enjoy this little photo essay of the historic railroad and museum in Ely, Nevada.
Tim's Viewpoints & Visuals 
I have to check that out next time I am out that direction! I love railroad museums! Sounds like a fun trip!
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It is a nice place. The yard tour is excellent. I would say the Durango Silverton train is the much better ride. But Ely is a cool little town.
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