Nevada Northern Railway
The Nevada Northern Railway ( AAR report mark: NN) was an American railroad company based in Nevada . Today the Nevada Northern Railway Museum operates a part of the route network .
Route network
The Nevada Northern Railway runs south from Cobre on the Union Pacific Railroad through the Goshute Valley . In Shafter the route of the former Western Pacific Railroad is crossed. From there the route continues south through the Goshute Valley and later through the Steptoe Valley, along the Goshute Lake to McGill Junction. From there the main line continues to Ely , a branch line leads northeast to McGill. The route to the west beyond Ely extends to Keystone near Ruth and Riepetown to open up the mines in the Kimberley area. A direct route from Hiline Junction to McGill was built to improve the connection of the iron and steel works in McGill.
The Nevada Northern Railway Museum operates the route between Keystone via East Ely to McGill and Adverse. The section between McGill and Shafter is currently not maintained or used. The section between Shafter and Cobre has been closed.
history
The discovery of major copper deposits near Ely in the early 20th century prompted plans to build a railway line to this remote location. On May 29, 1905, the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company, an amalgamation of several copper mines in the region, founded the Nevada Northern Railway. The railway line was completed in 1906 and traffic began on October 1st. With the commissioning of the McGill ironworks on April 12, 1908, traffic between the mines at Kimberly and McGill began. The operation of these trains was carried out by the Nevada Consolidated Copper. In 1933 the Kennecott Copper Corporation took over this company and with it the Nevada Northern Railway. On August 1, 1941, passenger traffic was suspended on the entire route. The conversion to diesel operation, which began in 1948, was completed in 1952.
Most of the mines were closed by September 1978 and the ore transport to McGill was suspended. Tourist trains from Cobre via East Ely to Copper Flat ran for the last time in May 1982. On June 20, 1983, the smelter was shut down and as a result all traffic on the route ended.
On October 19, 1985, the Kennecott Copper Corporation donated East Ely Station, including the operating documents, furnishings, and 600 m of track to the White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation. This laid the foundation for the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power intended to build a coal-fired power plant in Cherry Creek, which is located on the route. Therefore, the authority acquired the section between Cobre and McGill Junction on April 22, 1987. In April / May 1987 the White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation received from the Kennecott Copper Corporation the remaining operating assets of the Nevada Northern Railway, including the line between McGill Junction and Keystone. The East Ely train station and freight shed are transferred to the state of Nevada in 1990. This set up the East Ely Railroad Depot Museum, which opened in 1992, in the buildings.
After all mining rights in the Kimberley region were acquired by Magma Copper in 1991 , the newly founded subsidiary Northern Nevada Railroad (NN) began transporting ore on the route to Shelter on January 1, 1995. There the trains were handed over to the Union Pacific. After Magma was acquired by BHP , it was operated by BHP Nevada Railroad (BHP) since 1996. With the renewed cessation of mining activities in 1999, traffic ceased on July 9th.
The Cobre-McGill Junction line was acquired in 2006 by the City of Ely and the White Pine County Historic Railroad Foundation for $ 1.5 million. The prerequisite was the plans of two energy companies to each build a coal-fired power station in this area, which granted the city a loan of $ 750,000. The construction plans have not yet been implemented. The V&S Railway is also currently in the process of bringing legal action against the purchase itself .
Vehicle fleet
The Nevada Northern Railway began operations in 1906 with three second-hand locomotives with a 2'B (No. 1) and 2'C (No. 2 and 3) wheel arrangement as well as a new 2'C (No. 4) and a 1'D1 '-Tender Locomotive (No. 5). In 1907 two more locomotives with the 2'C wheel arrangement (No. 7 and 8) followed. In 1910 the Nevada Northern procured a C-coupler (No. 6) for shunting operations. Further locomotives with the 2'C wheel arrangement were procured in 1909 and 1910 (No. 21 and 40). The tank locomotive was converted into a 1'D tender locomotive in 1913. Another nine locomotives with this wheel arrangement were procured between 1910 and 1917 (No. 81, 90-97).
The locomotives acquired second-hand from the early years were retired from 1931 to 1933. The remaining vehicles were sold to the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company in 1920 and replaced by diesel locomotives from 1951 to 1954. Locomotives 81 and 93 were transferred to the White Pine Public Museum in 1960/1961 and later moved to the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. Only the locomotive No. 40, which is now part of the museum, was in continuous operation until 2002 before it had to be restored.
An EMD SD7 procured in 1952 was the only diesel locomotive in Northern Nevada. The traffic on the route network was handled by the Kennecott Copper Corporation with eight ALCO RS-2 (No. 101 to 108), one ALCO RS-3 (No. 109) and one ALCO RSD-4 (No. 109) acquired from 1948 to 1950 . 201) from 1951. Two of these locomotives have been preserved in East Ely and three more on other museum railways.
Two GE 70-ton switchers were used by the Northern Nevada Railroad . The purchase of two ALCO MRS- 1s was reversed in 1996 by the BHP Nevada Railroad. Instead, the company used EMD SD9 E (No. 201-203 and 205) and EMD SD9R (No. 204) and an ALCO RS-3 acquired from the Southern Pacific Railroad .
literature
- George H. Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads . 2nd Edition. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, WI 2000, ISBN 0-89024-356-5 .
- Edward A. Lewis: American Shortline Railway Guide . 5th edition. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, WI 1996, ISBN 0-89024-290-9 .
- Peter A. Hansen: Nevada treasure . In: Trains . Kalmbach Publishing Co., October 2006, ISSN 0041-0934 , p. 42-49 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Ely Times April 1, 2009: City on the hook for NNRy loans ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The Ely Times July 31, 2009: Justices send railroad suit back to lower court ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
