Chief Engineer’s Office - Nevada Northern Railway East Ely Yards and Shops - Ely, Nevada
Posted by: 
Volcanoguy
N 39° 15.606 W 114° 52.066
11S E 683964 N 4347807
The Nevada Northern’s Chief Engineer’s Office in the East Ely Yards.
Waymark Code: WMTQ9R
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 12/28/2016
Views: 0
The Nevada Northern’s Chief Engineer’s Office is located center of the East Ely Yards. The following information comes from the NRHP files: (
visit link)
The Chief Engineer of the railroad was not a locomotive engineer but a civil engineer in charge of all the engineering involved in track, bridges, and structure construction, which required civil engineering expertise. Standing 300 feet east of the Ice House (No. 30), the Chief Engineer’s Office actually had two brief careers before assuming that function. The railway built it in late May or early June, 1906, at Currie, as a temporary depot, since freight was being unloaded at that end of the track, and some structure was needed on an emergency basis to handle the freight business. But track construction moved on rapidly south from there to Ely. Meanwhile, the railway also built a branch line to McGill, site of a future smelter. While a temporary depot was being constructed in downtown Ely, and a permanent depot was being constructed at Currie, a temporary depot was needed at McGill. In November 1906 the temporary depot at Currie was loaded on railroad flatcars, probably cut into two pieces, and hauled up to McGill, where it was put back together as a temporary depot for McGill. When in 1908, the Nevada Northern finally got around to building a permanent masonry depot at McGill, which still stands, it moved the temporary depot, again probably cut in two, down to East Ely, and put it back together to form a one-story wood frame building, 30 by 40 feet, which the railway’s Chief Engineer occupied as his office. Resting on timber sills, the building has a board-and-batten exterior painted red with white trim, except for the south end that is sheathed in drop rustic siding. A small, gable-roofed addition with entrance door, essentially a storm entrance, extended from the south end. The gable roof is clad in wood shingles and has boxed eaves. Virtually the only architectural embellishment on the building consists of eave returns on the gable ends, reflecting vernacular Classical Revival. All windows currently are boarded over, but were very likely multi-light, double-hung in wood sash. The four room interior has plasterboard walls and wood floors. At one time a records vault extended from the east side of the building but it has been demolished. The building served as the office of the railroad’s Chief Engineer from 1908 until 1950, and since then has been used for storage purposes. The roof was reshingled in kind in 2004.
The building was recently remodeled to serve as a bunkhouse. Now the general public has an opportunity for a “Night at the Museum” by sleeping in the bunkhouse. (
visit link)