A steam train at Nevada Northern Railway Museum takes you for a 90 minutes ride up to a mine and ends near the engine house for a tour. Departing from East Ely, Nevada the train runs through two tunnels, up to a grade and towards Ruth Copper Mining District. With the choice of the open-air car behind the caboose or coach, I picked the open air car and really enjoyed the sounds of the steam engine, the ding of the railroad crossing and the whistle of the train. The train we rode was the ghost train. Its name was given to the train because in 1941 due to the need of scrap metal for the war efforts the master mechanic fearing the train would be scrapped would order the train to be hidden when war department officials came to visit. Take the tour of the engine house after the ride, our guide introduced to the engine house cats and gave us amazing facts about the repair of trains and the differences between the diesel and steam trains. I was disappointed not to be able to finish the whole tour but it gives me a reason to come back. Some of the other options you have while at the museum are sleeping in the caboose and being the engineer of the train.
