North Platte or Bust: Part 10, Goodbye Mid-West

Pacific, MO

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2012:

We arose to one of the best accidental findings of the trip:  Pacific, Missouri
Pacific is a railfan hotspot, complete with park and visitor center that we barely knew existed - but should have.  The Trains "Hot Spots Guidebook" listed Eureka, the next town east.  Close.
The Route 66 Railfan Visitor Center is hosted by some great railfans who were as helpful as could be. The town also had some railroad and Civil War history to check out.  We were sitting near the point where the Missouri Pacific was vying for first transcontinental status and the Frisco was born.  That same history made it a target in the Civil War.  The two roads in town were one once and Frisco split from a branch that originated here.

Pacific, MO

Route 66 Railfan Visitors Center

And, we found it all by chance.  We asked Expedia for a motel in Eureka, but it found a better one in Pacific.  We may not have found it otherwise except that we thought we might as well see what this town had for trains, since we were here already.  So many ways we could have missed it all...

Back at the motel, we heard scanner chatter almost as soon as we turned the radio on.  We reconnoitered the area and headed to Hardee's for breakfast since it was handy.   Charles spotted the visitor's center on the first pass through town and I couldn't miss the covered

Returning local.  Pacific, MO

picnic tables next to the tracks.  We returned after eating and parked in the public parking between the old Frisco and MoPac lines.  Our first stop was the visitors center.  I thought it was just a well located hobby shop.  Charles went in first and didn't come out.  Curiosity led me in fairly soon after I determined that a train wasn't nearby. 

BNSF GE's Pacific, MO

The folks at the center were busy with organizing a fundraiser or something but they were exceedingly helpful with railfan information about the entire St. Louis area.  A computer provided ATCS information for both lines.  I'm not one for crowds so I walked over to the shelter to wait on a BNSF train I thought would appear from the west.  Charles stayed inside and got to know people.  I also had a vague idea that an Amtrak "Missouri River" train from KC was around.

Pacific, MO

  The BNSF did come along, but far later than I expected and the Amtrak totally surprised me.  I like the "old and new" paint schemes on the BNSF GE's.  The fact that I managed to line up the Civil War Monument with the passing of a relatively speedy Amtrak train is mostly luck.  It looks stopped, but wasn't.  A returning local on the UP side gave a chance to try some new angles.  This may have been the first train we heard earlier.

Unfortunately, without prior knowledge of this place, we didn't allow ourselves much time to stick around.  It seemed like a waste of good info to move on.  However, we both vowed to return with a vengeance.  The  St. Louis area has so much to offer railfans and the visitor center can help take the mystery out of such an adventure.

Ex-C&EI/L&N Nashville, IL

Nashville, IL

Down the road and over in Illinois again, we were tracking eastward over side roads again.  We crossed many lines that existed or had been pulled up.  At one point we stabilized on a route parallel with the Evansville Western Railway.  We pretty much followed it over most of its route, but saw no trains anywhere.  We investigated many of its interchanges too.  Nothing.  However, the chase did get us into a couple of other sights that we might have missed otherwise.

National Railway Equipment

National Railway Equipment, Mt. Vernon, IL

Mt. Vernon, Illinois is the known home of National Railway Equipment.  However, when we stumbled into it, I couldn't have told you that.  I never made the connection until I saw the signs.  Never have I seen such a collection of old relics.  There were FM's, BLW's, MLW's, ALCO's and GE's mixed in the stuff laying around.  Some of them had to be from the 1940's.  We were following a string of diamonds and interchanges on "short range sensors" when I spotted this final shot below.  That led us around the block to see what else was about.  Very cool but the place seemed hostile with plenty of no trespassing signs and fencing. 

National Railway Equipment, Mt. Vernon, IL

We continued east, checking out the various rail lines we encountered but didn't find anything significant for the rest of the day.  The last major railfan stop was Bluford (south of Centralia) where the old Southern crossed over the old IC.  Interesting but little access, bad light and not trains so no photos.  We were headed to La Grange, KY so we had some miles ahead of us.  Nearby I-64 got us started toward Louisville.  Interestingly, we passed the Indiana coal fields and even the massive pit where Peabody Coal came from.  The SPV atlas showed enough convincing detail to confirm it.  Too bad there weren't some of those Peabody yellow unit trains kicking around anymore...

BC

North Platte or Bust: Part 7, Nebraska

SUNDAY AUG. 12, 2012

When we left KC on Sunday 8/12, we pretty much chose the fastest route to North Platte.  That meant heading north to Nebraska City and west to I-80.  All roads are fast in this part of the world so that was easy.  We wanted to follow the UP transcontinental route from Grand Island to North Platte along US 30.  This would take us by Gibbon Jct. where the line from KC comes in and forms a 3 track main to North Platte and O'Fallons. We passed many lines radiating out of KC and Omaha.  Some were busy and some were long gone.  The GPS "short range sensors" kept showing tracks that were no longer in place.  The Rand McNalley Railroad Atlas was the best we could do this far west. 

Grand Island, NE

Grand Island, NE

Once in Grand Island, NE we simply had to seek the point where the BNSF crosses the UP.  This is a single track overpass that is roughly 10 years old now.  The line used to cross at grade but with Powder River coal traffic on both lines, the bottlenecks would have been a disaster.  BNSF is even now seeking to double track this overpass because it is becoming a bottleneck.  The next day we would see two trains stacked up waiting to use it. 

Grand Island, NE

Grand Island, NE

Grand Island, NE

The UP was curiously quiet when we arrived but that didn't last forever.  We got a steady stream of coal loads heading east on the BNSF while we waited.  Eventually we even got one train passing over another.  The lead units were not synchronized but the trailing DPU's were close enough to see each other. 

Grand Island, NE

Grand Island, NE

The UP then provided a couple of westbounds, though the yard seemed active too, just out of sight.  The coal train's trailing DPU had a door swinging in the breeze, and we played tag with that train most of the way to North Platte.

Grand Island, NE

Grand Island, NE

Grand Island, NE

WB Gibbon Jct., NE

EB DPU Gibbon Jct., NE

 Our next target west was Gibbon Jct.  This is where the Marysville line from Kansas City joins the transcontinental line.  Depending on your perspective, this is where the 3 track mainline begins or ends.  Coal traffic has caused the UP to double track the Marysville Sub and add the 3rd track to the transcontinental line. 

Gibbon Jct., NE

KCS unit Gibbon Jct., NE

We saw a continuous barrage of trains in the short time we sat at the crossing there.  Something on every line.  The westbounds we saw coming as we arrived from the east, all seemed to be held at the junction for a short time.  SP and KCS made appearances.  I think we stayed less than an hour.



Down the road to the west we ran into the city of Kearny to see what we could see.  The original

Local power, Kearney, NE

depot is now gone but UP has one of their yellow brick square offices near there.  Down the tracks along a parkway we found some local power idling.




We didn't linger in Kearney and headed west.  Here we encountered the curious town of Cozad.  The depot was in an attractive little park now

The 100th Meridian - Cozad, NE

and everything highlighted the fact that the 100th Meridian passes through here.  In fact, there was a commemorative plaque for the ceremony when the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad reached Cozad.  UP also provided a caboose to the park. 

The 100th Meridian - Cozad, NE

West of Gothenberg, NE

Along the 3 track line we noticed that the small towns had elaborate, and new, pedestrian overpasses.  They seemed to be of a common design.  As it became apparent that these might be useful, we scoped one out for future use.   When we passed the town of Gothenburg the sunlight looked like it might fail soon and it was time to find a crossing to watch the action from.  We found a very isolated crossing as it turned out.

West of Gothenberg, NE

West of Gothenberg, NE

We had grabbed some Subway sandwiches in Cozad so it was time to eat too.  We saw several trains and a meet while we parked at that isolated crossing.    The sunset made for some spectacular lighting.

A couple of crossings west of Gothenberg, NE

We ended the day pretty much as planned.  We had passed grain elevators from tiny to unit train sized.  We'd passed ammonia plant and ethanal plants.  All manner of plains agribusiness.  US 30 proved to be ideal for our travels.  We were near enough to North Platte to call it a day and we had scoped out the overpass in Brady for our return.  Now all we had to do was retire.   One of my last shots turned out to be pretty good for someone who generally avoids the artsie-fartsie stuff

A couple of crossings west of Gothenberg, NE

BC

North Platte or Bust: Part 6, Kansas City

AUGUST 10, 2012:

We had a stop in Kansas City for a couple of days.  Charles had a family wedding to attend and I had some college friends to visit.  We spent Friday morning chasing down trains in "The Bottoms" and nearby areas.  I picked up a couple of other shots while I was with my friends.

"The Bottoms" - KCMO

"The Bottoms" - KCMO

We needed to decide where to start.  The hobby shop known as Doc's Caboose was as good a place as any to start.  We hoped to find literature or something about "The Bottoms" area of Kansas City.  Actually we simply parked at the shop and we were in the heart of the spot we sought.  Unfortunately the shop was closed, but it did have tracks off the back bumper of my car parked there.  The first train came along before we could pull out.  It was westbound.

"The Bottoms" - KCMO

"The Bottoms" - KCMO

The actual train came by and we decided that we were on the wrong side of the tracks for this spot.  Before long another westbound came along.  We were now on the opposite side from my car.  No biggy for us but another fan came along moments before and joined us.  His car was parked in a less than ideal spot with windows down.  We all figured the train would pass and all would return to normal.  Wrong!  The other local fan was hoping to find a known train with GP15's and an old D&RGW car.  This wasn't it and the train slowed to a stop and dumped the air.  It was going to be here a while.

"The Bottoms" - KCMO

"The Bottoms" - KCMO

Meanwhile, we chatted and watched the locals climb over the train to get by.  Apparently the UP does this nonsense all the time.  It was around 40 minutes before the train moved out.  We weren't that foolish and stayed put.

"The Bottoms" - KCMO

"The Bottoms" - KCMO

We didn't know the neighborhood but apparently it was safe enough though the local told of a half-way house around the corner.  The place was becoming gentrified.  Yet another westbound was sneaking through before the idle one moved.  This one had a single unit up front and another DPU on the end.  We were still stuck in place.

"The Bottoms" - KCMO

"The Bottoms" - KCMO

When the idle train finally got going, we began loading the car.  However, another train approached before we got going.  We, and the now relocated local fan moved back to our same spot.  This final train turned out to be the one the local sought.  It had a GP38-2 up front and trailed 3 GP15's and an SD70-2. 

 Main St. - trail overpass - KCMO

Main St. - trail overpass - KCMO

Our next spot was one I had been too many times before.  It is a pedestrian/trail overpass at the end of Main Street where it meets the river and the trail system.  This was among the last places I used a film camera too.

Main St. - trail overpass - KCMO

Main St. overpass - KCMO

The overpass and stairway is literally surrounded on four sides by railroads.  The BNSF goes north and south over a swing bridge.  The UP follows the river under the bridges.  To the east, the BNSF has a lift bridge (silver) which connects to the lower UP line.  Across the river in North Kansas City is a series of industrial tracks connecting the two north/south lines and feeding the industries including a former National Starch plant (a friend works there). 

 Main St. - trail overpass - KCMO

End of Main St. - trail system overpass - KCMO

The brown bridge was always busy but the silver bridge sees far less traffic.  I felt lucky to get this shot of a BNSF coal train crossing the lift section. 

Main St. - trail overpass - KCMO

Union Station WWI Monument.

Union Station WWI Monument.

We moved on and called it a day.  Charles needed to be dropped off with his relatives and I eventually needed to show up at my friends'.  This did not end my railfanning in the city.  On Saturday my friends took me to the WWI museum which is under the monument opposite Union Station.  A museum ticket includes a ride to the top of the monument.  There I was able to look into Union Station's yard and see the private car "Federal" which we were able to spot earlier at La Plata.

The final view is a memorable one.  At one time there were only two layers of bridges over Santa Fe Jct., just west of Union Station.  Here everyone tries to get from one yard to another, creating a bottleneck that the bridges relieve.  There is now a newer 3rd layer that tops all of them giving direct access to Argentine Yard from Union Station.  A tour of the city with friends, including one friend in the industrial security business, took us to the apex of that bridge's far access ramp before the rails were in place. 

Santa Fe Jct. area from the top of the WWI Monument.

BC