Steam & Excursion > Peace achieved in Ely

If you think that all it takes to run a steam railroad is a truckload of coal and barrel of spikes, read about the effort this month in Ely.

Thank you Mark, John,  and the cooler heads who prevailed.

http://www.elynews.com/2016/07/15/railroad-boards-agree-terms-new-corporation/

Peace?  Hardly.  This will go on and on....  Check out the story how one of the city council members had one of the railroad board members charged with a misdemeanor for threats. A few weeks earlier the City  Council voted to refuse to respond to mutal aid fire calls.   The city should be disbanded and let the County run the local government.

 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

webmaster Wrote:
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> Peace?  Hardly.  This will go on and on....
>  Check out the story how one of the city council
> members had one of the railroad board members
> charged with a misdemeanor for threats. A few
> weeks earlier the City  Council voted to refuse
> to respond to mutal aid fire calls.   The city
> should be disbanded and let the County run the
> local government.
>
>  

Threats? Dang! And this is all over metal...

Posted from Android

Hey, it's the wild west.

Especially out there, we inquired at one point about opening a small satellite store to service QR
and you'd thought we were opening a Wal-Mart!

Out

What is "QR"?  TIA!

This is why so many small, semi-isolated western towns remain
that way, despite protestations to the contrary. And they can never
figure out why that is.

The impression is that they want to grow, get more businesses,
draw more toursists, etc.  Except they don't want to change anything,
build anything, or attract "outsiders: who might want to, horrors, stay
there longer than necessary to get some money out of them.

Similar to Chama. "Welcome, stranger!  Spend some money then
get the hell out." 

Look at the amount of time and money wasted on endless arguing
about who is going to control the railroad. You have council people
who won't make decisions, preferring to "let the voters decide",and
others who want to decide every piddly thing.or have approval over
everything (micromanagers)

Ely must be a paradise, as some of the locals have so little to do that
they discuss the railroad endlessly, never considering that the less they
get involved, the better it runs.

Obviously, there are a handful of people who want to get in the middle
of it precisely because it is working, and they want to skim some of the
credit for that without bothering themselves with thinking about how it
got where it is and how far it can go.

Typical small-town politics.

If anything, the major doner and the major fundraiser getting up in front
of them and telling them exactly how good they've had it and what will
happen if they keep sticking their noses in, probably did more than anything
to keep these yahoos from killing the goose.

This time, anyway.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/16 14:42 by Realist.

Those of who do so should all pray for the continued success/viability of the revered Nevada Northern RR, and, if it actually goes directly to the railroad, we might also send along some much needed cash.  AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Hopefully more than peace will be achieved, since something like the NN is a labor of love that requires enthusiasm, not just peace.  Although peace is a practical starting point to build on.  The whole thing reminds me of how dependent rail preservation is on people, and with people personalities can either add or take away the magic.  The situation with the UP steam program is another example.  It is usually not a matter of black and white, right or wrong, but of folks learning to be generous with the others shortcomings, playing to people's strengths and working around their weaknesses.  Sometimes shit happens, but hopefully there is a work around.  Probably anyone involved in rail preservation organization has seen this stuff kind of get in the way, limiting what can be accomplished.

JBWX  

I can see why they fear change.  Look at Durango in 1963 (my first visit) and today.  I don't even recognize portions of it.

agentatascadero Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Those of who do so should all pray for the
> continued success/viability of the revered Nevada
> Northern RR, and, if it actually goes directly to
> the railroad, we might also send along some much
> needed cash.  AA


If one does feel the need for prayer, it should be for our troops in harms way at the battle fronts of the world. 

Daveb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can see why they fear change.  Look at Durango
> in 1963 (my first visit) and today.  I don't even
> recognize portions of it.

But you could say that about Chama, Fort Bragg, Jamestown and any other small railroad town or suburb. The big problem is there are to many people. Land owners age, the kids want to get out of the town, sell the property to be developed.

Frankly if I was Ely, I would not worry unless there is a large group of people who like living in the middle of nowhere. I have Goggled satellite this town and all I can say is that if was not for the tourist railroad, no one would stop.....what do people do for work out there? if they do not want development to keep the railroad running, what other work could the railroad do to make money? Are they all living on the government hand outs?

Posted from iPhone

I've been in town when it was Homecoming Weekend and you wouldn't believe the pride and excitement throughout the city. Yes, it is -- by metropolitan standards -- a little place, but Ely, NV is a wonderful place with one of the world's precious jewels: The Nevada Northern! Both the railroad and the town are working hard to grow into their rolls. Let's hope they both succeed.