Steamscape: East Ely Yard. Overnight snow squalls have left a couple of fluffy inches on the East Ely Yards of the Nevada Northern Railway, as crews get a pair of freight trains ready for mid-morning departures on very different missions. On the left, the beefy Consolidation #93 builds steam pressure for the climb up to the mines in Keystone with a string of ore hoppers. On the right, Railway Express personnel load a few last packages on a string of boxcars destined for Currie, to the north. The high-stepping, ten-wheeler #40 will provide the power and the speed to get the time-sensitive cargo to the customers on the other end. The scene depicted here is very typical day on this remote line in the high desert of Eastern Nevada. The NN had a diverse stable of power to handle a variety of different missions, from mining to passenger service to fast freight.
