Nevada Northern Railway Star Train

For those of you who aren’t fortunate enough to live up here in the Rural Inter-Mountain West, you are missing our breathtakingly beautiful night sky.   For those of you who live in these parts, you may not have taken the time lately to stop and gaze at the Heavens.  Either way, plan a special night out with those beautiful stars of ours.  This area has one of the darkest skies in the lower 48 states which provides the setting for our wonderful night skies, which is why there is the Nevada Northern Railway Star Train.

Nevada Northern Railway’s Star Train pulls out of Ely on selected Summer evenings with the Dark Rangers of Great Basin National Park aboard.  These rangers love the night sky as much as we all do, but they probably know a whole lot more about stars than all of us put together.  They will guide us on our journey to find interesting things up in the Heavens on this journey. We will stop the train away from town to take full advantage of the dark night skies.  The National Park Service Rangers will have  special telescopes set up for viewing the night sky, and will be there to tell us all about it.

Watch a video of the experience as covered on the CBS This Morning Show

What to expect:

• Our trains feature on-board restroom, wheelchair accessibility, and snacks and beverages available for purchase.
• The Star Trains are pulled by one of our vintage diesel locomotives, and leave around sunset, so you will have a chance to see the sun as it sinks down over the Steptoe Valley.   It is a great time of day to admire the rural Intermountain West at its best.
• It is usually clear up here at night, but the train will still operate and the Park Rangers will still be on-board with an astronomy show-and-tell regardless of what Mother Nature dishes up.
• Would you also like to take the trip up toward the old Ruth Mining District on a train pulled by a steam locomotive?  Who wouldn’t?  We also have a steam-powered excursion train departing at 4:30 pm on Friday afternoons, and another one at 1:00 pm on Saturday.  During the check-out process you can add a Four-Day pass at a reduced rate to go on additional train rides while you are here.
• Note that the trains depart from and return to Ely, NV with National Park Service Rangers on board.  The train does not travel into or from Great Basin National Park.  Ely is the closest town to Great Basin National Park (1h west), so it makes a logical hopping-off point for an extended visit to the Park.  Don’t miss the opportunity to explore the rest of the National Park, including Lehman Caves.

Learn more about the Railway by clicking HERE!