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 wrecking crew wrestles with a hopper that derailed on an ice jam earlier in the day and has been blocking access to a critical engine house track. Although Ely can be a really cold place in the winter time, the truth is that it doesn't actually snow all that much there. This is a dry, high-altitude desert climate, so the snow is usually light and fluffy, and doesn't amount to much, even though it may come down for an extended period of time. During my recent 3-day visit, it literally was snowing at varying rates most of the time and may have piled up a total of perhaps 5 inches.
