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Headline : Meet The 'Grubby' Cat Who Tourists Travel Hundreds Of Miles To Meet
Caption : Tourists are travelling hundreds of miles to a railway museum in Nevada, USA, to catch a glimpse of “Dirt” the cat.

Dirt arrived at the museum 11 years ago when his mother gave birth to him under the museum's 1907 built Rotary Snow Plow but sadly left without him.

After realising the kitten had been left, employees at the museum started leaving cans of tuna out in order to try and coax the little one out. Lots of tins of tuna later, Dirt had built up trust with the team and finally made an appearance.

Originally orange and white in colour, Dirt started to make himself at home and became fond of rolling around in the dirt and the coal piles of the steam locomotive till eventually he'd stained his fur grey. There was of course no other name more fitting than Dirt.

11 years on and Dirt is still kicking around and is as much as part of the museum as the historic locomotives.

Eric Mencis, Manger of Guest Services and Social Media for the Nevada Northern Railway, says: "Dirt walks around the shop like he's the boss making sure everything is working right.'

"He walks with a sense of pride around his engine house, like these are his trains. He will climb on walk around the trains, like he is inspecting them, checking to make sure not a bold is loose or that the bearings are properly oiled up!"

Located on the ‘Loneliest Road in America’, the Nevada Northern Railway Museum is a railroad museum located in Ely, Nevada and is home to a collection of historic locomotives as well as a collection of maintenance equipment and numerous historic freight and passenger rail cars. The site was cited as one of the best-preserved early 20th-century railroad yards in the nation, and a key component in the growth of the region's copper mining industry.

Built in the early 1900s, the museum has been left exactly as it was 100 years ago.

"We're not a museum with displays and exhibits set up to look nice, we are a museum that is really like walking back in time.' explains Eric.

The railroad now welcomes around 30,000 visitors every year, which includes many hardcore Dirt fans. In fact, some travel from as far as 200 miles away to meet the grubby cat.

“I am shocked that he has become famous as he has. I knew he would be popular but not this famous," said Eric.

"We do offer Dirt Tshirts, magnets, key chains, coffee mugs, and even his own coffee, and I have mailed his items around the world for people who purchased them on our online store.”
PersonInImage : Dirt The Nevada Railway Cat