East Ely was never a large community. The railroad, mines and mill had a constant need for workers. To entice workers to the railroad, the railroad proved living quarters in bunkhouses.  Today the museum continues this tradition with our bunkhouse. Located in the middle of the rail yard, it is used by volunteers and interns of the railroad.

Now, the general public has a rare chance to also sleep in the bunkhouse with the crews. (Though be warned, morning comes very early for steam engineers and fireman. Crew calls of o-dark thirty are normal.) Like the crews, the rail yard does come alive very early in the morning as locomotives move about getting ready for the day’s activities. Built in 1906, it was recently remodeled to serve as a bunkhouse. The bunkhouse has all of the modern conveniences for 1920 - four sleeping rooms, two restrooms with showers, a kitchen and a sitting area with electric lights. (Though the air conditioning is still natural, i.e. open a window, but not to worry, the evenings are always cool in the high desert. And there is no television or wi-fi but your cellphone my work.)