A SPECIAL HAPPENING!
Remembrance Day – May 28, 2023
Dirt the Cat

In Memory of the Passing of Dirt the Cat.
Official Mascot and Greeter of the Nevada Northern Railway
Ely, Nevada

We knew he was beloved, not only by us, but also by people around the world. Our Facebook post that announced his passing has reached nearly 2 million people. Phenomenal! Because of this outpouring of support, I would like to make two announcements.

The first is the we will be honoring Dirt, The Boss Shop Cat on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, May 28th.

Secondly, we have hired a sculptor to create two life-size bronzes of Dirt. If you would like to contribute to having the bronzes made, we have a special account set up for contributions, it is named Dollars for Dirt, click here to contribute.

We plan to unveil Dirt’s Statute and Headstone on May 28, 2023 at 10:00 am. This is the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. We will be operating two trains that day, the first one is 11:30 am, for tickets click here, the second train is at 2:00 pm, for tickets click here.

Because of all of the interest and support, the museum is committed to having two bronze statues made. One statue and a gravestone will be over his burial place. This is near the East Ely Depot where he can look out over the train yard and watch all of our activities. The second statue will be displayed in the engine house where he was born at the Nevada Northern Railway National Historical Landmark in Ely, Nevada.

In Dirt’s passing, he has transformed from being our Boss Shop Cat to becoming an ambassador for Heritage Railroading across the country and around the world. Dirt’s physical presence has left us, but his spirituality is still with us and will be for as long as steam locomotives still operate.

I consider Dirt following in the paw prints of Smoky the Bear. Smokey was a real bear cub that survived a forest fire. He eventually transformed into a symbol of fire prevention, “Only YOU can prevent forest fires.”

I see Dirt, The Boss Shop Cat doing the same thing. Dirt will help us reach new people to explain why the preservation of our steam railroading heritage is so important. Dirt, will also be instrumental in helping us teach railroad safety to children.

Dirt was and still is truly amazing. As long as the big wheels keep turning here, Dirt will be with us all. It’s a tall order, but then again, who knew that the runt of the litter, a little orange and white ball of fur would become such a colossus in the world of heritage railroading!

I hope you can join us on May 28th, we look forward to having you join us in celebrating the life of Dirt, the Boss Shop Cat. We will try to live stream the event for those of you who can’t make it.