Nebraska Railfanning/Warning

[edahrenhoerster]

Just got back from a trip through Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado. I was seriously impressed with the train watching in Nebraska. Trip along Highway 30 from North Platte through Grand Island to Fremont was the best I have seen. Even beats Rochelle and the Northeast Corridor for train frequency, though not for amenities or friendly company. Grand Island flyover and spot between UP and BNSF at Fremont left you wondering which way to point the camera first.
A warning, however: the local police are apparantly "mining" the tourists. I was followed several times while driving exactly the limit and was given a ticket for driving 63 in a 60 zone on Highway 30. (All the attention made me question my speedometer, but I had it checked and it is about 1/2 mph off.) Reminded me of rural south 20-30 years ago. As we used to do down there, I recommend driving 2-3 mph under the limit.
Railfans and RR personnel in Colorado and folks at the museum at Boone Iowa were super friendly.

[Anonymous]

I hope you also visited North Platte. There is an observation platform at the west end of Bailey Yard where you can see one of the classification humps and the diesel shop. There is a small museum in Cody Park in North Platte which has a Challenger(I forgot its number)and Centennial Number 6922 on exhibit. It also has an ex UP railroad station which houses memorabilia. The Hampton Inn on the south side of the city has phtographs and paintings of Union Pacific's trains and locomotives.

I agree Grand Island, NE is a good place for watching action. There is a street west of the BNSF flyover which can serve as a vantage point for watching or photographing trains on either the Union Pacific, on the ground, or on the BNSF on the flyover; the flyover is also used by unit coal trains with KCS power. Both lines are busy, and trains on the BNSF typically run with power on each end of the train so your chances of getting a photo with the power on a unit coal train on the BNSF flyover crossing over the power on a Union Pacific train are very good.

About getting nailed for 63 in a 60 mph zone. I don't recommend exceeding the speed limit any where even though it is well known few cops will stop you for less than 5 mph over the posted speed limit. I wonder what would have happened had you gone to court, and fought the ticket. How did the cop clock you? By radar? By a speedometer? If a cop gave you a ticket for 63 in a 60 zone using a speedometer you might have been able to beat the ticket. Your advice to watch your speed in Nebraska is well taken. We were out in Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas and Missouri last year, and I noticed people driving 5 - 10 mph above the posted limits on the Interstates and regular highways with impunity. However we did have one encounter with the Nebraska State Police on our trip last year. Shortly after we crossed into Nebraska from South Dakota we ran into a Nebraska State police "reception committee" in Valentine Nebraska who stopped all vehicles to check drivers for licenses and registration, and they inspected all vehicles for the proper functioning of lights, horns, wipers etc. My wife was driving the car at the time, a Chevy Blazer rental car and she was not too familiar with all of its controls, but the cop was helpful, and he sent us on our way remarking we were a long way from home.

[Anonymous]

What I neglected to mention on my early reply was I thought a 70mm lens would come in handy in photographing trains on the BNSF flyover in Grand Island, NE from the street west of the flyover. The land between the street and the BNSF flyover in Grand Island is Union Pacific property so you can't get too close to the flyover.

Rudy Volin

[edahrenhoerster]

Yes, I did visit North Platte. It was impressive, but I couldn't find any good places to get pictures. I found the tracks along Hy 30 and the stuff in Grand Island and Fremont a lot more conducive to hanging around and taking pictures. Spent only 2-3 hours at North Platte and better part of 2 days at Grand Island. There is what appears to be a fairly new public parking lot just across to stree to the west of the flyover that is good for PM photos.
Fighting the ticket is great in theory, but they give you a court date a month after the ticket and, as a retired lawyer, I can tell you that frequently the only purpose of the first court date is to enter a plea and set a later date for the actual hearing. Thus you would be taking at least 1 and possibly 2 trips to a place 700 miles away to fight a $50 ticket. If you have a clean driving record and don't have to beat the ticket to keep your license, you just pay even when you know you weren't speeding. That is why tourists are so frequently the target of questionable tickets. Of course, what frequently goes unrecognized is that a couple of dozen or so such tickets can set up word of mouth that will completely offset a million $$ "come see our state" campaign. That realization is why the southern states shut down their ticket mills that were so famous 20-30 years ago. Oh well, "Those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

[Anonymous]

What did you think of Gibbon's Junction? I am from the east (PA) and went to Nebraska during the July 4th week to visit my father in law. He works for the UP and took me and my wife on the grand tour of the Harriman center. Then, he and I made the trek from Omaha to Gibbon's, stayed at Gibbon's for about an hour and a half, and managed to video about 20 train movements. Absolutely awesome, there is no place near my home in PA that has action like that area. At one point, there were 4 headlights visible as I looked East towards Omaha, and three at the same time as I looked west towards North Platte, and one as I looked South on the line to Kansas City. I will definately be going back to Nebraska soon to watch trains. As far as speeding, I didn't see a police cruiser the entire trip, but it was during the week, in the middle of the day, and I try not to speed anyway.

[mccauley]

I too stopped by North Platte in June and went to the Bailey Yard viewing platform. My family and I were planning to eat lunch there until we discovered how loud the brakes are on the cars rolling down the hump. (Suggestion: if you're planning on staying longer than a few minutes, bring ear plugs.) While we weren't expecting much in the way of a visitor center (in lieu of the Golden Spike Tower that won't be open for a couple of years yet), I was surprised to find that there was virtually nothing. The building that appeared to be a gift shop or something was boarded up.

And I too was pulled over for speeding, even though my speed couldn't have been much over the limit and wasn't unsafe. Fortunately, the trooper must have been in a good mood that day, since I only got a warning ticket. Cops were not noticeably worse on I-80 than on comparable interstates in other states, but once you get off the interstate, watch out!

[edahrenhoerster]

Where is Gibbon's Junction? If it is along Hy 30 between North Platte and Fremont I probably saw it as I covered the whole route and stopped at a lot of places. Almost any spot along there was as busy as you describe. At the flyover on Grand Island I saw 6 trains in the first 15-20 minutes then gave up trying to keep count.
When railfanning I usually work with SPV's RR atlases, a state map and, now, Kalmbach's Hot Spots book, but SPV doen't yet have an atlas out for Nebraska, so I was working with Hot Spots, the state map and some tips I got from a fan at Palmer Lake in Colorado. (Not too many trains, but interesting as it is where the manned helpers drop off.) Gibbon's isn't listed in either Hot Spots or the state map.
My ticket was mid afternoon on a Wed., so don't let that give you a false sense of comfort.

[Anonymous]

Gibbon is just east of Kearney, NE. Here is a web-site with some photos and a map of the area:

http://www2.southwind.net/~c44-9w/gibbon.html

Please note that the wooden cross-ties shown on this site in the photographs have been replaced with concrete ties for higher running speeds. The frogs for the crossover switches actually have moving points also!! I was truely amazed at the traffic through this junction. I didn't get to see the flyover at Grand Island, maybe next summer I will make a trip there. We ran out of time and had to head back to Omaha for a family function.

[edahrenhoerster]

Yes, I did come through there. Didn't spend a lot of time, only an hour or two. There were quite a few trains. I would rank it ahead of North Platte, but behind Grand Island and Fremont. Of course, it's kind of unfair to judge on such a short experience. I may have hit a slack time there and "rush hour" at the other two.
I remember being at Rochelle one time when a bus tour of railfans stopped by for about an hour on their way to Mid Continent Rail Museum in Wisconsin. In several dozen trips to Rochelle that is the only time I can remember with no trains for entire hour. They probably left wondering about all the stuff they had heard about the place.

[Soo2610]

It does happen. I can remember several occasions when we went an hour or more with no activity at Rochelle. This usually happens when there is a problem somewhere down the line. But, oh man, look out when they start catching up. It makes for a lot of doubles going in the same direction at the same time with trains backed up and waiting for the diamond on the other line.

[edahrenhoerster]

Yeah! I have a great video of 2 UP trains starting out from Clinton Iowa, headed toward Rochell, side by side. I have seen 2 UP trains and a BNSF train at the crossing at Rochelle at the same time. The BNSF train was stopped blocking the crossing. Talk about traffic jam! Many times I have seen either UP or BNSF trains passing at Rochelle. Seems to be a favorite spot for meets. Somewhere out there must be dispatchers who like railfans.

[Anonymous]

What's wrong with this picture? Speeding tickets in a rail forum

[Soo2610]

Hope those dispatchers stay out there! It makes for great viewing!

[Soo2610]

They write them for trains in Fox River Grove, Il. too. This came about after a Metra train hit a loaded school bus that was stopped on the tracks and the powers that be decided in their infinite wisdom to reduce speed limit for trains and issue tickets rather than training bus drivers not to stop on the tracks.

[edahrenhoerster]

When Soo 2719 ran from Waukesha to Madison last summer every small town cop in southeastern Wisconsin could have written his/her monthly quota for tickets in one day. However, instead they concentrated on getting everyone through their town and to the tracks as quickly and safely as possible. An officer in Milton Junction gave us tips on a couple of great places to eat. Fans should be aware of where they are welcome and where they are viewed as fair game.