Times they are a changin'. In recent years, the demographics of the railroad crews at tourist railroads and museums have begun to shift a bit. It isn't just the boys who are playing with t... (more)

Roundhouse Ritual: The Alemite Grease Gun. In the hours before dawn, a volunteer member of the Nevada Northern shop crew uses a pneumatic grease gun to pack the rod bearings on Locomotive 9... (more)

Midday "God-beams" lift the curtain of darkness on the seldom-seen back half of the Nevada Northern Engine House, revealing some of the museum pieces that "need a little work". Closest on ... (more)

Rotary 101. Here's a rear-quarter view of Nevada Northern's 1907-vintage Rotary Snow Plow B. It's a slightly different look at this classic piece of MOW equipment than you typically see, a... (more)

The snow train returns to Ely. Nevada Northern's Rotary Plow train steams past the old Ely Freight Terminal en route to the engine house, with her crew still manning their stations. Nevad... (more)

Passing the torch. One of the stark realities of steam railroad operations is that most of the men who serviced and ran the locomotives in actual service are gone now. Even the first coupl... (more)

A cold Ely sunset. With most of the sane photographers already headed back to their hotels for hot showers, I risk the loss of some critical anatomical hardware as I shoot Nevada Northern's... (more)

Steamscape: Lower Tunnel. Nevada Northern's elegant 10-wheeler drifts out of Lower Tunnel and on down the ore line toward the East Ely Yard in a light snow shower. The Nevada Northern is ... (more)

Big Hook in action. With the snow intensity picking up, Nevada Northern's 100-ton steam powered wrecking crane commences lowering one truck of a derailed hopper back onto the iron. The Wre... (more)

Winter ops in the Ely Yard. A light snow breaks out in the yard at East Ely as hostlers prepare the beefy Consolidation 93 for a hopper drag out to Keystone. In the background, the line's ... (more)

Preparing the hook. Members of the Nevada Northern Wrecking Crew scurry around Steam Crane A as they prepare her for a late afternoon operation to re-rail a hopper that has become a victim ... (more)

Preparing the hook. With shop mechanics already in the process of making her ready, the operating crew of Nevada Northern Wrecking Crane A (lower left) huddles to discuss the plan for an af... (more)

Returning from battle. In the middle of a high desert snowstorm, Nevada Northern's rotary plow train returns to Ely for fuel and water after battling the drifts up on the Keystone Branch. ... (more)

Eastbound Silverton Mixed. A D&RGW K-28 leads a mixed freight along the icy Animas River, on the eastbound run from Silverton to Durango. This train has just taken water at a location kno... (more)

The "Sports Model". Looking positively resplendent in her green boiler jacket, and sporting the old D&RGW "toilet seat" herald, Locomotive 478 hauls a fast passenger train across the high s... (more)