Interesting doings on the Nevada Northern...back in late spring a couple track machines started rehabilitation work on the Nevada Northern mainline south of Shafter. There have been several posts about the work over on Trainorders. I have yet to see the work up close and personal, but I have seen it through binoculars from up on the flanks of the Pequops and other places. The stated intentions of the work was to prepare the line for commercial railcar storage.

Last Friday the STB recorded a filing from a S&S Shortline Leasing, LLC of Farmington, Utah. The filing states that S&S is leasing and seeking an exemption to operate the Nevada Northern mainline between Cobre and McGill Junction. In the filing S&S states that they have an agreement with the owners of the line (City of Ely and the foundation behind the Nevada Northern Railway Museum), that they are going to interchange with the UP at Cobre and Shafter (initially at Shafter, as several hundred feet of track would have to be rebuilt to re-establish a connection at Cobre), and that they will connect with the museum's Great Basin & Northern at McGill Junction.

The filing can be seen in the Filings Section of the STB website. Look up docket number FD_35284_0.

It'll be interesting to see what happens out of all this.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV