Nevada Northern Railway Museum Auction

Lucky Bids Will Save the Green: Now through March 18

ELY — Make your dreams come true and "Save the Green" at the Nevada Northern Railway Museum’s first online auction, now through March 18.

Top-of-the line offerings include the rare opportunity to "Be the Engineer" and drive a locomotive with the train (freight cars) attached. Opening bids start at up to 55 percent off the regular price.

You don’t need to go over the rainbow to make dreams come true or find your pot of gold. The auction makes it easy to sit comfortably in your home or office or anywhere you have internet access. Your luck’s in store online, and shopping is just a click away at the Nevada Northern Railway website or directly at biddingforgood.com/nevadanorthernrailway.

Bid on such items as Spending a Night at the Museum with the Bunkhouse Overnights; Railroad Reality Week Experiences; Winter Steam Photo Shoots; Rides with the Engineer; Haunted Ghost Trains; Polar Express; and steamin' dinner trains. These include the Rockin' & Rollin' Geology Trains, Wild West Trains, the brand new Restoration Rails Trains, and the Steptoe Valley Flyer Heritage Trains. More than $80,000 worth of Nevada Northern dream items is up for bid — at a fraction of regular prices.

Ely was recently named one of "America's best small town comebacks" by CNN. Read the story here.

Nevada Magazine announces 2012 Best of Nevada winners

Nevada Magazine’s July/August 2012 edition, which reveals the winners of the publication’s 15th annual Best of Nevada readers’ survey, is on newsstands now. From Brewery to Wedding Venue, the annual listing includes 18 categories. In most cases, the categories are divided into North, South, and Rural Nevada, giving tourists plenty of statewide vacation ideas.

Peppermill Resort Spa Casino in Reno is a five-category winner, voted Best Casino, Hotel, Nightclub, Spa, and Wedding Venue in Northern Nevada. David Walley’s Resort Hot Springs & Spa won two categories: Best Spa and Wedding Venue in Rural Nevada. The Best of Nevada food-and-drink categories (Brewery, Buffet, and Restaurant) are covered extensively in the magazine’s “Cravings” department, highlighted by Reno’s Cactus Creek Prime Steakhouse, which won Best Restaurant in Northern Nevada for the third year in a row.

Red Rock Casino Resort Spa is the only two-category winner in the Southern Nevada discipline, earning Best Casino and Spa honors. Tropicana Laughlin won Best Restaurant and Wedding Venue in Rural Nevada. The recently opened Mob Museum won Southern Nevada’s Best Museum category in its first year of eligibility, and Tonopah’s Central Nevada Museum won the Rural Museum category for the third consecutive year.

A complete list of winners can be found at nevadamagazine.com. To see past Best of Nevada winners, click here.

July/August 2012 issue

Best of Nevada winners Nevada Northern Railway in Ely (Best Place to Take the Kids; Rural) and Valley of Fire State Park (Best State Park; South) also were honored with the distinction of being named one of the state’s six treasures in a recent Nevada Commission on Tourism campaign called Discover Your Nevada. Like Best of Nevada, the treasures—one from each of the state’s six “territories”—were determined by public vote.

Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park (Minden), Goldwell Open Air Museum (near Rhyolite), Nevada Northern Railway (Ely), Pyramid Lake (Indian Reservation), The Star Bar & Dining Room (Elko), and Valley of Fire State Park are the six treasures and the subjects of the July/August issue’s cover story, which also discusses how Governor Brian Sandoval and Lieutenant Governor Brian K. Krolicki have taken active roles in promoting intrastate travel.

Also in the July/August issue are stories about renovations at Las Vegas’ original resort—Golden Gate Hotel & Casino—sister bed and breakfasts in Alamo, a cozy B&B in Kingston, and a history story about the July 18, 1912 flood that wiped the northwestern Nevada mining town of Mazuma off the map.

Nevada ‘treasures’ unveiled

Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park, in Reno-Tahoe Territory, is one of Nevada's "six treasures," according to voting results in the Nevada Commission on Tourism's Discover Your Nevada campaign.

After several rounds of voting and months of friendly competition, six unique locations in Nevada have been identified as Nevada’s Treasures, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki announced today.

“The Discover Your Nevada campaign has been incredibly well received, and the Nevadans who have visited the TravelNevada.com website have served to unleash a renewed interest in the wonderful tourism opportunities available throughout Nevada — ranging from the well-established venues to some of our state’s truly unknown treasures,” Krolicki, chair of the Nevada Commission on Tourism, said. "The governor and I are delighted to participate in this marvelous campaign, and are gearing up to hit the road shortly to revisit some of our favorite places as well as to discover treasures that have somehow eluded us during our many years of traveling this great state."

The Nevada Treasures competition was part of NCOT’s Discover Your Nevada campaign, a three-month endeavor to encourage in-state travel and to educate Nevadans about some lesser-known corners of their state.

Goldwell Open Air Museum.
Photo: Shane Kruitbosch

The nomination period kicked off on March 1, and NCOT received 587 nominations in the state’s six tourism territories: Reno-Tahoe, Cowboy Country, Pony Express, Nevada Silver Trails, Las Vegas, and Indian Territory. Several rounds of voting narrowed the competition until the final two in each category were announced April 30.

“It was so interesting to see the variety of nominations, from natural wonders like Cathedral Gorge State Park to world-famous sights like the Las Vegas Strip,” Claudia Vecchio, director of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, said. “Even more interesting and thrilling was to see the local residents and business owners reach out to their communities to rally support. The volley of marketing on the local level grew with each round of voting, and residents jumped on board to support their favorite venue.”

The final round of voting closed at 5 p.m. on May 4. The winning treasures are:

• Cowboy Country: The Star Bar & Restaurant in Elko
• Indian Territory: Pyramid Lake (Indian Reservation)
• Las Vegas Territory: Valley of Fire State Park near Overton
• Nevada Silver Trails: Goldwell Open Air Museum in Rhyolite
• Pony Express Territory: Nevada Northern Railway in Ely
• Reno-Tahoe Territory: Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park in Minden

For more information about the Discover Your Nevada campaign, visit DiscoverYourNevada.com.

Nevada Northern Railway offers photo scholarship

Photo: Matthew B. Brown

TRAINS Magazine and Ely's Nevada Northern Railway Museum are offering a special Steam, Steel, and Strobes Scholarship to attend the historic railroad’s annual Winter Steam Spectacular Photo Shoots. The free contest is open to anyone age 18-30. There are two opportunities available—February 3-5 and 10-12. An individual will be selected for both events.

The photographer selected will receive a Photo Shoot Scholarship and a $500 stipend, which can be used for travel to Ely. He or she will work with professional photographer Steve Crise during the February 2012 events.

To apply for the scholarship, applicants must e-mail a proposal of no more than 250 words along with three (3) low-resolution images to TRAINS Editor Jim Wrinn at editor@trainmag.com. Entries must be received by Dec 31, 2011.

The Nevada Northern Railway Museum is located roughly halfway between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Steve Crise: http://www.scrise.com
Nevada Northern Railway Museum: http://www.nnry.com
Trains Magazine: http://www.trains.com