Nevada Northern Railway Museum

In Ely, Nevada, one of the most intact short-line railroad complexes in the United States has been preserved almost exactly as it was the day the last train ran. The Nevada Northern Railway was built in nineteen oh five to haul copper ore from the White Pine mines down to a transcontinental connection at Cobre. When the railroad ceased operations in nineteen eighty-three, workers simply locked the door.

The shop buildings, locomotives, wooden passenger cars, and even the paperwork were left in place for decades. Today the museum operates the line as a living railroad, running steam excursions on the same track the copper trains used, making it one of the few places in the West where you can ride behind a genuinely original steam locomotive.