Description
On the eastern end of US-50 — "the Loneliest Road in America" — I rode a 1917 steam locomotive through a railroad tunnel that was marked as a Cold War fallout shelter. This is the Nevada Northern Railway in East Ely, Nevada: a National Historic Landmark and one of the best-preserved standard-gauge short lines left in North America.
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I spent four years at the Hanford vitrification plant treating the nuclear waste left behind by weapons like the Trinity test and Fat Man — so when the conductor pointed out the fallout-shelter symbols painted inside the tunnel, it landed a little differently. From there we walk the 1907 depot frozen in time, tour the 1908 machine shop where the crew still hand-fabricates parts for century-old engines, meet Locomotive 40 (Nevada's official state locomotive, running since 1909) and the 1907 steam wrecking crane, then climb aboard Engine 81 — "The Phoenix," a Baldwin built in 1917 that the shop fired back to life in 2020 after 62 years cold.
We ride the old line out of Ely toward the Robinson Canyon mine the railroad was built to serve, catch a surprise run-around when the engine uncouples and comes back around, and read the hidden history sliding past the windows. Then it's back into VECTOR — my Honda Element — for a fuel check and a run up US-50 toward Twin Falls, with one closed mountain road getting in the way.
This is Wanderlust Estate: once-in-a-lifetime deep dives into the places most people drive past. Cornell biochem, nuclear instructor, Honda Element nomad — the Credentialed Redneck Scientist reading the history and geology hiding in plain sight.
CHAPTERS
0:00 A Cold War Fallout Shelter in the Mountain
0:33 Inside the 1907 East Ely Depot
1:12 US-50: The Loneliest Road in America
2:06 Locomotive 40, Nevada's State Engine
2:24 Inside the 1908 Machine Shop
3:33 Restoring the Steam Giants
4:32 Wrecking Crane A (1907)
5:21 Boarding Steam Locomotive 81
5:51 The Conductor's Briefing
8:11 Old Ely from the Rails
9:22 The Surprise Run-Around
22:06 Back on the Road in VECTOR
23:33 Angel Lake Road Is Closed
26:20 Onward to Twin Falls
WATCH NEXT
Last episode (Ward Charcoal Ovens & Cave Lake State Park): https://youtu.be/YEQc5mqIw34?si=ISZub2z37Do2xJHH
Full Nevada series playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEQc5mqIw34&list=PLH8fWoYKRGvnwQXKT01T2XAoEe9K3G7Ot
LOCATION
Nevada Northern Railway, East Ely, NV — on US-50, "The Loneliest Road in America"
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