Every year, my grandfather and I go on a trip to a reigion of the US, and visit as many train-related places (museums, excursions, Model railroad clubs, etc.) as we can in about two weeks. This year, we visited the Upper midwest; Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas. Our trip starts on May 25. (i.e. "tomorrow" ) I will try to post 1 or two photos per day.
Daily Set-Up
The day in review.
Possibly photos
Acela
Edit: This has not been a problem yet, but if you could please hold your comments until after the last day's post (Day 14/June 7th) it would be greatly appreciated. If you have a comment or a question, PM me. Thanks! Acela
The timbers beneath the rails are not the only ties that bind on the railroad. --Robert S. McGonigal
We left from Okie around 8, expecting to be in Topeka before noon. We took a detour on the way to see the home of the luckiest man in the world. (Off of US-75 and on the road towards Baldwin) When my grandfather drove by a few years ago he had about 6 freight & passenger cars in which the LMIW lived. But when we drove by there was only one car remaining and a lot of deep ruts in the surrounding mud. Dissapointed, we drove to the Great Overland Station. To our suprse, we were greeted by a few volunteers standing at the door. They were recieving a few old railcars donated by a local man, who as we later found out, was the late-LMIW! We were so luck to have been there on the day the shipment was being recieved. We watched the men bring them into the parking lot, then went inside to see the rest of the station.
Since we had been there last (almost 12 years exactly!) the restoration crew had done a fantastic job of fixing up hte museum to its former glory. Even the plaster UP shields and paintings on the ceilling had been redone. There were a few displays, but not what we would see later in the trip. We returned back outside to see the railcar "installation" progress. Then the luck kicked in. I have this offical UP employee hat that I always wear on our trips. Just as we were watching, some men in a UP suburban pulled up to "watch the fun." One of them got out and asked if we would like some free tickets to the steam excursion this weekend! Unfortunatly, we had a schedule to stick to so we could not. When he heard that we would be in North Platte, he said "I know some guys down there andwhen you get into North Platte, give me a call and I can hook you up with somebody to give you a tour of the yard." YES! Every foamers dream!
We looked around the station some more, and talked to a man who had been (and still is) a main part in restoring the small depot next to the station. Then it was time to go, we had to be in Lincoln, Neb. tomorrow. We left and drove until about 7pm, where we stopped in Junction City.
End of day 1.
Had a free breakfast (the only good part about the Howard Johnson) and were off to Fairbury by 7:30. We did not have to take the interstate to Fairbury, which we do whenever time allows. Not much traffic and our Garrison Keillor tapes help[ed move things along.
We were not sure if the museum would be open or not, nobody had responded to our calls or emails. We had no trouble finding the museum, it was right off the highway, and of course, next to the railroad tracks. Unfortunatly when we arrived, there was a sign on the door that said the museum opened at 1. Again, the luck was with us. A woman came to the door and, seeing that we were real railfans, let us in. The reason she was there was due to a local TV channel filming a documentary about historic places in Fairbury, the depot being one of them. Nobody was filming at the moment (the crew wasn't even there) so we took a look around downstairs. Almost everything Rock-Island related (aside from full-size trains) you could think of was on display.
Upstairs, a local model railroad club had their layout set up. It was very well done but they oly met on first and third Saturdays(?) so we saw nothing running. Upstairs, some plaster was flaking off the ceilling, big pieces of it. (Not heavy chunks, but more like giant paint flakes) Unfortunatly that means the roof had been leaking, which will be really hard to pinpoint on the terracotta roof of theirs.
We ate at Rowdy's, a local place recommededto us by Julie, in charge of Fairbury.com & town tourism, helping out with the filming. The special was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and ice cream. It was delicious if you like fried chicken. My grandfather says his elaphant ear (country fried steak) had too much breading.
Then we drove down to Rock creek crossing; where the Oregon trail crossed Rock Creek and home of the first toll bridge west of the Mississippi river. But since it is not train related I won't elaborate any further.
After that we drove to Lincoln to see the Larsen Tractor Museum but mainly to meet my grandfathers old college pal, who now works as a professor at the University of Nebraska. The tractor museum was also quite interesting, including a lot of Nebraska history. There was a tractor test-track out back, which is still in use. I will tell that story in the post after this one for simplicity. Then we went to dinner with Al and his wife. He and my grndfather had +30 years of catching up to do (last saw eachother in '82/'83) but it was entertaining to hear the exchenging of "do you remember when we...","I recall one time you said..." and "do you remember Bob and how he..." etc. It was a pretty fun night.
End of day 2.
Early 1900's
Tractors are introduced to the farming scene and are a huge hit, specifically in Nebraska. Many tractor companies pop up and sell tractors that are not fit for the job to say the least. One of those companies was Ford. Not the Ford Motor Company as we know it today, but a seperate Nebraskan company whose bookkeeper's last name was Ford, (This explains why all Ford tractors were called "Fordsons" for a long time) using it and knowing that the people would trust the reputable name and buy their product. One Nebraskan farmer was so furious with his Ford that he got himself elected to the state legislature and pushed through a bill that said all models of tractors must pass a series of tests before they could be sold in the state of Nebraska. A testing facility was put up on the University of Nebrtaska campus ands still exists today, along with the law. However, it is no longer enforced. Numerous tractor companies still pay to have tractors tested. Being able to tell a potential buyer "yep...this baby's passed them tests up there at the University in Lincoln. Pretty imprerssive results, why...(etc, etc, etc.)" canhelp companies make more money and clients to make sure they are buying a cream-of-the-crop product.
Normal schedule will resume tomorrow.
Woke up and had a good hotel breakfast. We talked to another railfan who was also on a trip to see North Platte. [We would see him again Tomorrow] Then we hit the road for Kearny. We did not have to drive on the Interstate, which was great because the highway paralelled the tracks the whole drive. Unfortunatly when we got to Kearny, the gates were locked and the sign said they opened at 1:00. Not wanting to wait around for opening, we got back on the highway for North Platte.
We arrived in North Platte right before lunch. Made a call to *** (We will call him "Bob" for security reasons) right away to see if he would hold up on his tour offer. Sure enough, "Bob" said he had already contaced someone and he would call us after lunch break for a tour. While we were waiting, we visited the small museum at Cody Park, just outside of town. It was nice to see a Challenger and Centennial (both of which cabs were accessible) in great shape.
Had a quick lunch at Wendy's, and as soon as we finished the call from 'Bob' came. "Bill" (again, security reasons) would meet us outsied the Golden Spike tower at 2:30. We rushed over and were in 'Bill's" car before we knew it. He showed us inside the old switch tower for the eastbound hump. (where an employee safety person now works) Then we saw the drive-thru eastbound fueling racks up close and also a good view of stored locomotives. Then, a crackle over the car scanner. Conveniently, the 844 was getting clearance thru the yard, right down the track we were closest to! It was a railfan dream come true! She was coasting, so no impressive "chuff-chuff-chuff" or clouds of smoke and steam, but she looked great from our prespective, working or not! (Also a bonus, my favorite herritage unit-MoPac 1982-was second in command, double bonus!) We paced for a while, then returned to the Golden Spike tower. The tour was over, but the day was not. We looked around from the 8th floor of the Tower for a while, then returned to find a hotel. It has been the best day so far.
End of day 3.
The morning passed uneventfully. We had a hearty breakfast and went down to see the 844's departure. About 7:40 we had our noses through the chain-link fence and a UP employee came down from the locomotive (fireman or engineer, we don't know) and seeing my hat, handed me yesterdays train orders from Cheyenne to North Platte! Definitly the best souvenier of the trip. Thank goodness for the large holes in chain link fences.
The departure was set for 8:00, so we stood back with our cameras at the ready. By then, luck had temporarily abandoned us. The batteries in my camera died before the first shot and my grandfather's camera was in the car, batteries charging. Well, you can't have everything, and we did have a beautiful sunset the previous evening.
We drove back and peered from the 8 story Golden Spike tower for another hour-and-a-half, talking to the man who we had met at breakfast in the Lincoln Super 8. Small world in midwest railfanning. Then we hit the road for Hill City! Once again, we managed to thwart the Interstate and also paced the tracks and 2 trains on long, open stretches of empty road. I also saw the first locomotive on my "hit list", an NRE Genset painted for the US Army(?). (It was a really bright red-camera doesn't quite zoom that far)
We made a stop in Hot Springs, SD to look around in the "worlds smallest Union Depot", now the Hot Springs C. of C., and walked down the river path for a while. Then we got right back on the highway towards Hill City. We took a scenic route, thru the Needles, insistantly called the Pinnacles by some stubborn trainmen. We arrived in Hill City later than we thought we would, about 7:30, but we had a great dinner of Prime rib and Tilapia. ! Our cabin was very cozy, especally since the days we were there it was drizzly and 50 degrees. The beds were nice and the kitchenette (aside from the Made in China refrigerator) was perfect for journal writin' and coffee sippin'.
End of day 4.
We woke up in our cozy cabin at the Lodestone and had a hearty breakfast of Raisin Bran. Wrot in the journal some, then headed out to the depot downtown. Our train departed at 10-so of course being foamers we were there just after 9. It was cold and raining, so we had to wait inside the depot, not outside "inspecting our train" as we usually do. Then, no. 110 watered and loaded with coal, we boarded the train. No. 110 is a 2-6-6-2T, and is the only operating Mallet / tank locomotive in the world. (?)
Again, it was quite cold so instead of riding in the open car as we usually do, we rode in an enclosed car. The ride up was nice, lots of grade crossings=lots of whistle blowing=happy foamers! We got to the turnaround point, and were quickly back on our way. We saw the masses of people waiting to board, so we decided to ride back in the open car. It got quite chilly, even with the warm Durango and Silverton sweatshirt from the trip 3 years ago. Even though it was cold, the ride back was much better as we could see and hear so much more. The frequent hairpin curves made for some good photo ops, I think I may have captured a few that are Trains Magazine worthy. We arrived back in Hill City about 1, so we quickly went back to our cozy little cabin to warm up before lunch.
For lunch, we had hamburgers at the 50's style diner (My dad would have loved it-red & yellow plastic squeeze bottles for catsup and mustard) and had a pretty OK hamburger (!) before heading out to the SD RR Museum. It was small, probably the smallest state RR museum we had ever been to, but they packed a lot in. The high point was a 8x70' timeline of all recorded RR history. Also included in the museum was a small HO layout (partially under construction) but it was not running, just 3 men fooling around with their new Pro-Cab. Bought a few old issues of MR to help their restoration cause, they had recently acquired a car from the California Zephyr and need funds to help restore it. $5 worth of 1990's MR might not do much, but if everyone who visited did the same...
Then we decided to drive up CR-423 (?) to see if we could catch the afternoon train on a run by. Again, I may have caught a few that are magazine worthy. We paced it for a while, then lost it into the trees. We drove back downtown for and had a good one. Stayed the night in the cabin again, even cozier after a long day of trainspotting.
End of day,
Really enjoying the trip. -- PPCC
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