CBS this morning had a great segment on a train ride out in the Nevada desert to view night sky. Shown with steam and diesel. Is this like the White Pass where you have to to time to show up on certain days to be sure to get steam power? I think this is in the dead center of nowhere, so hard to get to. Only close to it a couple of times in 1960's. On the Nevada Northern. Would have liked to have taped.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Rusty
It was a good piece, focusing on the "star train" that takes you out to black sky country to view the night sky.
Here's the clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QipQjMNItOU
Every time I've been to Ely, the NNRR has been running one of their steam locomotives.
Me too - and they seem to not mind if you self-tour the facilities. Try that in Durango some day - you will wind up in Guantanamo.
Ely is three hours from San Diego in a light airplane, through some of the most desolate and interesting country on the planet. I had to buy the Myrick book on Nevada railroads after my first round trip.
I recommend the daytime trip, and not in the middle of a truly hot day.
So, difficult to believe these were taken in 2011 - I was making two round trips every summer for about five years. The nice looking girl was doing an article for a Las Vegas newspaper. I think it was a pleasant 80 degree day in August. I have lots more - did not want to overwhelm you.
Gee, and my brother and l walked all over the Durango yards...back when it was not a tourist road, and before they had that fire....which is a reason to secure the place, in TODAY's world. Maybe this should be a secret, but you can still walk all over the C&T. And the NNRR is even more remote. That makes distance an asset.
I got a Durango tour one morning. I think it was 1986 - I put on my flying costume, told them that I had flown in 122 folks the previous evening, and they gave me the royal treatment. As an ordinary gawker - they don't want you anywhere near anything. You buy a seat, you sit in it and do exactly as you are told.
C&TS, on the other hand, is an absolute joy! You can ride on the vestibule, or on the flat car, or hang out with Tommy Garcia and the guys in the Chama yard. Been a member of that for over a quarter century.
The Nevada Northern is well worth the trip from almost anywhere -- at one end of the 'loneliest road in America' - US 50 (other end is Sparks, NV) but the high desert can be just spectacular. We've ridden the NN several times, most recently on our way home from chasing the solar eclipse north of Boise two summers ago. If you look at the NN website - link provided by Rusty earlier in this thread - you'll see that you can be engineer on a steam locomotive for two hours and if you dig down a bit, you'll see a Railroad reality week, where one can 'work on the railroad (all the livelong day...) for a week. I haven't done that (yet). There are also some sponsored wintertime photo shoots, here's a sampling from railpictures: https://railpictures.net/showp...20Northern%20Railway
The CBS piece is well done - and the collaboration between NNRy and Great Basin National Park is a terrific idea -- I've added the star tour to my list. GBNP is also well worth the trip - great Basin and Range scenery, Lehman caves (must be one of the highest cave complexes in the US) and an ancient Bristlecone pine forest. So, yeah, middle of "nowhere" - but that's the point...! (just don't speed on US 50 coming into Austin, NV -- ask me how I know...)
Just finished driving the Nevada Northern Steamer and RS-3 Diesel in June. Had a blast blowing the whistle like an idiot for the cars passing by on Hwy 50. Nothing like driving 100 tons of steel to make you feel like a rockstar.
Chris S.
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
