Translate

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Buy a ticket and ride the train!

Sunday April 22, 2012

Ely (play /ˈli/, EE-lee) is the largest city and county seat of White Pine County, Nevada, United States. Ely was founded as a stagecoach station along the Pony Express and Central Overland Route. Ely's mining boom came later than the other towns along US 50, with the discovery of copper in 1906. Though the railroads connecting the First Transcontinental Railroad to the mines in Austin and Eureka have long been removed, the railroad to Ely is preserved as a heritage railway by the Nevada Northern Railway and known as the Ghost Train of Old Ely.[1][2] As of the 2010 census, the population was 4,255.

Yesterday afternoon we went out after lunch to -get fuel and go down to the Ely train station where they have the museum and gift shop.   I wanted to buy a t-shirt for grandson Shane in Pittsburgh who is interested in trains.  It turned out that the steam trains are actually running right now and we could have ridden one today if we’d only known.  As we were standing outside the gift shop we chatted with a young boy in railroad gear who was a wealth of information.  His Grampa is the volunteer conductor and he told us we should come back and ride the train tomorrow….so we decided that would be a great idea as the weather was good and we aren't in a huge hurry.  So even though we had planned to leave we bought tickets for the 9:30 a.m. ride the next day as we may never get another chance to ride the train. 

If you are interested in seeing the Ely Nevada Railroad site have a look at http://www.nnry.com/ the site has lots of information and if you ever have the opportunity to stop and have a look on your way through Ely, please do….you won’t be disappointed!  I’m not a railway buff but I was overwhelmed by it all.  Eric’s father, grandfather, uncle and Eric himself all worked for CN telegraph and so were all associated with the railway and the trains.  In the early years when Eric was just a baby he and his family lived in Pacific between Smithers where he was born and Terrace where we now live.   In the early days in northern B.C. transportation  of people and goods revolved around the railroad.  As there were no roads the train was the only transportation link at the time. 

Our day started off early as we had to be at the station by 9:00 a.m and I nearly had a fit when I heard the whistle blow at 8:30 am.  I thought we were late because I wasn’t exactly sure what the time was here in Nevada but lucky for me it was actually 8:30 and we were okay.  So….off to the station for great morning. 

There were actually quite a few people up early to ride the train and everyone was really enthusiastic including the boy who we’d talked to yesterday. 

The train was to take us from East Ely up the canyon to the mine site at Ruth that we had visited Saturday.

Now for the pictures.  I took over a hundred pictures but I’ve pared it down to 50 or so….

P1020820

Our tickets for the train.

P1020821

Coming down to the station….see the smoke in behind….that’s the steam engine.

P1020823

That’s number 40 fired up and ready to go!

P1020824

Is she beautiful or what?

P1020826

That’s me in front of the train.  Pretty big eh!P1020830

Built in 1910.

P1020829

That’s the way we’ll be heading, past all the shops and up towards the mine at Ruth where we were yesterday.

P1020831

Eric’s heading up into the engine to have a look.  That’s Lennox, the boy we spoke to yesterday and his Grampa the conductor.

P1020833

That’s the engineer.P1020834

That’s the fireman.

P1020835

This is the boiler where the fireman has the to throw the coal.  On #40 his throw is about 8 feet to the coal from the tender into the boiler.  On the other locomotive the throw is about 13 feet….a lot more work!  It takes about about 1 hour to get the steam up to pressure on a warm day like today but on a cold day it takes about 4 hours. 

P1020836

Ready to ride.

P1020840

Safety first!

P1020842

Inside the passenger car.

P1020843

We decided to ride outside on the flat car for a better look.  That’s the caboose at the back.

P1020849

Heading out on our ride looking back at the station and the yards. The ride out and back will take about an hour and forty five minutes and we’ll travel at about 15 miles per hour.  In her glory days #40 was clocked at 100 miles per hour!  Amazing. 

P1020853

Steaming up the track.

P1020855

Heading toward the first tunnel.

P1020862

The same tailings we’d seen yesterday on our drive to Ruth.  I might mention that as we travelled along we had a running commentary about everything that we saw. 

P1020865

Still heading up.

P1020867

Setup for a shoot out. No one there today.  At this point we are on the Y switching to head back down to Ely.

P1020869

Old mining ore cars used for erosion control.

P1020874

Me enjoying the ride in the sunshine.  On the way up those of us riding outside had been covered in coal cinders when the train had been building up steam on the uphill grade. 

P1020877

Heading back down to Ely.  We’d just done a switch on a Y and turned around to head back to the station.

P1020880

The train yards in the distance.

P1020881

The water tower is on the left and the coal bunker is on the right.

P1020884

That’s a spreader car that spreads the rock ballast for the tracks.

P1020885

 P1020886

Water tower.

P1020890 They use these cars during the summer months to take people out on dinner runs.  All of this maintenance and running of the trains and tracks is hugely expensive so all the tourist dollars are important.  One of these cars was a dining car in the old days.

At this point we got off the train and prepared for a guided tour through the shops where they maintain and rebuild the trains.

P1020892

That’s copper ore on the left and coal on the right. 

P1020898

Huge original equipment to repair and maintain the trains.  Eric is looking at a lathe to square up the wheels when they get worn.

P1020899

Look at the size of that press.  It is used to press the axles out. 

P1020900

Machines that are still being used and driven by flat belts.

P1020901

Eric inspecting the machinery.  He would really like to get in there and get his hands dirty!

P1020902

This is #93 the other steam engine used on their runs in the shop for a little maintenance.

P1020907

#93 is a 2-8-0 which has 8 drivers while #40 is a 2-6-0 and has 6 drivers. So although #93 is much more powerful #40 is built for speed.  

P1020909

Huge, huge machines.

P1020910

This is the big hook!  A steam powered wrecking crane that is still used today to get derailed cars back on the track. 

P1020911

Bottom of the boom.

P1020913

This is the capacity for lifting of the machine pictured above.  Still lifting, working and she was built in 1907!

P1020916

The tracks head right inside where they can work on the trains.

P1020919

#40 is finished her work for the day and ready to come inside to rest.

P1020920

P1020924

P1020928

The tour is done and the ride is over and we head back to the station. 

P1020929

Just up the street from the station is this little cafe and we stopped in for lunch on our way home.  A charming old cafe and Inn from days gone by. 

A great day!

No comments:

Post a Comment