Nevada Northern & Railroads of White Pine County |
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BHP Nevada Railroad Locomotive Roster |
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BHP Motive Power The BHP Nevada Railroad acquired 5 ex-Southern Pacific diesel locomotives for transporting copper concentrate from their mill at the former site of Riepetown to the interchange with the Union Pacific at Shafter, NV. In addition, they had 3 engines designated for switching duty presumably at both the mill concentrate loader and the East Ely ore yard. Two of the former SP units were repainted into the BHP dark blue and yellow livery. The remaining three units of the series remained in their gray and scarlet SP colors. After the termination of the mining operations in the summer of 1999, the motive power was stored at the mill. Subsequently, on 15 May 2000, the Nevada Northern Railway Museum obtained the BHP Nevada Railroad motive power as part of a settlement of their track lease contract. The motive power, along with various railcars, was moved from the BHP facilities near Ruth to the east end of the NNRy yards at East Ely on June 13 and 14. In November 2000, the Colorado, Kansas, and Pacific RR purchased four of the SD9s (Nos. 201, 202, 203, & 205) and both of the GE 70-tonners. The Museum retained SD9 No. 204 and RS3 No. 13. The livery, lettering and numbering presented below was accurate as of 19 June 1999, just prior to the cessation of operations.
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Railroad Numerology Traditional Redundancy / Customary Duality The railroads of White Pine County apparently run out of numbers faster than the telephone company. David Sellers, former Elyite and passionate NN railfan, observes that the BHP Nevada Railroad continued the NNRy tradition of assigning the same road number to multiple units. BHP Alco RS3 switcher was assigned road #13 while one of their GE 44-ton switchers concurrently carried #013! The Nevada Northern began their dual numbering practice as early as 1908. By 1915 their passenger equipment roster contained coaches No. 2 & 02, No. 3 & 03 and coach No. 4 to pair with combination coach/baggage car No. 04. By 1923 some semblance of order had arisen from this initial chaos. The dual numbering practice continued but coaches were assigned the single digit format (No. 3, 4, 5 & 6) while combination cars sported the two-digit "aught" or "cipher" scheme (No. 03, 04, 05 & 06). Contemporaneous coach No. 5 and combine No. 05 maintain their original digital design to this day and can be viewed at the NNRy Museum in East Ely. The NN private varnish suffered from a somewhat milder case of this digital disease. No. 100 was used on 3 different cars and No. 101 was employed twice. Happily, the use of the same numbers for these business cars was temporally discreet. |
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Builder |
Type |
BHP road No. |
Livery |
Letter |
Built |
b/n |
Comments |
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EMD |
SD9E |
(201) |
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SP bloody nose |
SP |
3/54 |
19443 |
Built SP 5354; renumbered 3814 in 1965; rebuilt 8/70 to 4303. Retired 1994; to PR 11/95. Not renumbered by BHP; not operational-main generator short. |
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EMD |
SD9E |
202 |
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SP bloody nose |
SP |
2/56 |
21290 |
Built SP 5465; renumbered 3939 in 1965; rebuilt 2/72 to 4352. BHP 202 on left side. No number on right side. |
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EMD |
SD9E |
203 |
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SP bloody nose |
SP |
4/54 |
19460 |
Built SP 5371; renumbered 3830 in 1965; rebuilt 2/76 to 4412. Retired 7/95; to PR 11/95. |
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EMD |
SD9R |
204 |
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BHP blue & yellow |
none |
2/56 |
21293 |
Built SP 5468; renumbered 3942 in 1965; rebuilt 5/77 to 4426. Retired 7/95; to PR 11/95 |
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EMD |
SD9E |
205 |
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BHP blue & yellow |
none |
5/55 |
20210 |
Built SP 5432; renumbered 3910 in 1965; rebuilt 11/76 to 4418. Retired 7/95; to PR 11/95 |
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Alco (Schen.) |
RS3 |
13 |
06 Sep 1998 |
Dark orange & black |
none |
10/51 |
79244 |
Built as L&HR No. 13. Sold 2/72 (through Silcott) to SMARRCO No. 13. To BHP No. 13 in 1997. "Interesting that somewhere along the way, the L&HR's 'frog-eye' number boards were removed (notice the notches on the corners of the hood), and replaced with the standard Alco flush-mount number boards." -- Marty Feldner |
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GE |
70-ton |
012 |
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Yellow/green stripes |
BHP & SMVRR |
3/52 |
31282 |
Built as SMVRR #40. Out of service with broken crankshaft. BHP logo and lettering in bluish hue on right side of cab, with "012" in black. Left side of cab lettered "SMVRR" in same green as striping, number painted out. |
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GE |
70-ton |
013 |
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Yellow/green stripes |
none |
8/50 |
30447 |
Built as SMVRR #30. Number "013" in black on both sides of cab; no logo or lettering. |
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Abbreviations |
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Alco |
American Locomotive Co. |
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b/n |
Builders number |
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EMD |
Electro-Motive Division, General Motors Corp |
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GE |
General Electric Co. |
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L&HR |
Lehigh and Hudson River Railway |
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PR |
Progress Rail Service (dealer) |
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SMARRCO |
San Manuel Arizona Railroad Co. |
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SMVRR |
Santa Maria Valley Railroad |
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References: |
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Clemens, Al. Personal communications, 09 & 14 Aug 2000. |
| Connelly, Eugene. Personal communication, 08 Aug 2000. |
| Cripps, Mike. Agent-emeritus BHP Nevada Railroad, personal communication. |
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Diesel Era staff. "EMD's SD9 - Part 2" Diesel Era 7 (6): 36-48, 62-64 (Nov/Dec 1996). |
| "Inventory Swells." Summer 2000. Ghost Tracks - Official Newsletter of the Nevada Northern Railway Museum. p. 1, insert. |
| Percy, Richard. "Espee Modelers Home Page" http://espee.railfan.net/espee.html |
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Last updated 19 Apr, 2003 -/- |
