Nevada Northern Railway Today
In a series of donations beginning in 1986, Kennecott transferred the entire Ore Line, as well as the railroad's yard and shop facilities in East Ely, to the White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation, a non-profit organization which today operates the property as the Nevada Northern Railway Museum which operates a heritage railroad on this part of the former NN.
Passenger excursion train service is offered between Ely, Ruth, and McGill using period equipment pulled by historic steam and diesel locomotives.
In April 2006, Nevada's National Historic Landmarks Committee granted unanimous support to nominating the Nevada Northern's East Ely shops complex as a National Historic Landmark. The nomination was approved by the National Park Service on September 27, 2006.
The remainder of the Nevada Northern has largely been moribund since 1983. In 1987, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power purchased the Cobre-East Ely line, in anticipation of the construction of a coal-fired generating plant along the route; the plant was never constructed, however. Meanwhile, the 1990s saw a brief resumption of copper mining near Ruth, this time by Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP). This project saw the construction of additional trackage near Ruth, and the resumption of service from there as far as Shafter by the BHP Nevada Railroad in 1996. Both the mine and railroad shut down again in 1999, however, and when mining resumed in 2004 concentrates were hauled by truck rather than by rail.
The disused line between Ely and Cobre was acquired by the city of Ely in 2006. Recent plans by Sierra Pacific Resources for the construction of the "Ely Energy Center", a 2,500 megawatt coal-fired generating plant in the Ely vicinity are raising the possibility that the railroad may see yet another revival, this time carrying inbound loads of coal to White Pine County.
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