North Platte or Bust: Part 8, North Platte

Bailey Yard, North Platte, NE

MONDAY AUG. 13, 2012

O'Fallons, NE

We spent the night in North Platte but our first mission on this

O'Fallons, NE

Monday morning was to go touch the Mountain Time Zone a few miles to the west.  This had nothing to do with railfanning but took us past O'Fallons where the Powder River traffic joins the main line.  This is essentially the other end of the 3 track main.

O'Fallons, NE

O'Fallons, NE

On the way back we encountered a train sitting on the
embankment of a relatively new flyover track.  As we got out to photograph it, it began to move.
This was not far west of the actual wye at O'Fallons.



Once the train was by we headed for Bailey Yard and the Golden Spike Tower in North Platte.  This was the reason we headed into Nebraska in the first place.  It was worth the effort.  There is a nice museum at the foot of the tower and an elevator takes you to two observation decks - one open and one enclosed.  From there you can see Bailey Yard, the largest rail yard in the world.  There are some incredible statistics on the yard which I'll spare you here.  Suffice it to say, the view was awesome.

Bailey Yard, North Platte, NE

Bailey Yard, North Platte, NE

Bailey Yard, North Platte, NE

Bailey Yard, North Platte, NE

CSX Power

Slugs!

Bailey Yard, North Platte, NE

Bailey Yard, North Platte, NE

Bailey Yard, North Platte, NE

Bailey Yard, North Platte, NE

Challenger

Eventually it was time to leave Bailey

Centennial

Yard.  We moved across town to Cody Park where historical equipment was on display.  There was a Challenger and a Centennial to look over.  It was a small but excellent collection.  I liked the unique UP flavor of it.

Cody Park, North Platte, NE

Cody Park, North Platte, NE

RPO Car

Cody Park, North Platte, NE

Cody Park, North Platte, NE

Cody Park, North Platte, NE

Three track mainline.  Brady, NE

When we finished here we grabbed some lunch and headed to the

Brady, NE - new pedestrian overpass

overpass at Brady, just east of town.  Here we could look down on the 3 track main.  It turned out to be fairly busy too so my lunch was nearly cold when I got back to it.

Brady, NE - new pedestrian overpass

Brady, NE - new pedestrian overpass

Brady, NE - new pedestrian overpass

The overpass was pretty good except for the chain link fence.  When we arrived a local guy drove his riding mower over the whole ramp system, so you could tell it was fairly wide.  Kids drove their bikes by us.  Not a bad photo advantage for such empty land. 

Ravenna, NE

Ravenna, NE

We were going to detour from US 30 to visit the BNSF Powder River line at Ravenna on the way back.  This spot is a crew change point and features an office and extensive employee housing.  I'd had great luck at this spot in the past, but not today.  One wb train was sitting at the office and soon an eb stopped on the edge of town.  But, that was it.  We had a long way to go yet that day so we moved on.  We stood on a new highway bridge, but the chain link was not friendly to cameras.

Ravenna, NE

I took what shots I could of our one train before it left.  This can be a hopping place.  It just wasn't at this moment while we were here.  We followed the line back to Grand Island and didn't really encounter much that we could photograph.  We did see a couple of trains held up at the single track UP overpass.  No noise on the scanner didn't help.  We decided to move on.  Time to head south for a while.

Hastings, NE

Hastings was our next stop.  This is on the CB&Q Denver line out of Lincoln.  It has a reasonable amount of traffic and sees the Zephyr in the late at night and the wee hours of the morning.  Across the street from the depot is this building proclaiming that Hastings is the birthplace of Kool-Aid.  East of town was an extensive military ordinance storage facility that once had a web of track.  Some of the bunkers now had trees on them.




We were headed for Manhattan, KS by way of Marysville, KS but our light was failing faster than we were making progress.  We hit the grid of side roads to find the UP.  "Short range sensors" kept showing tracks that were long gone.  We headed for the town of Ong.  The BN must have pulled the tracks and left the town to dry up and blow away.  It looked abandoned but was not.

 Davenport, NE (just south of Ong)

Farther south we found the town of Davenport.  Here is where we sat at a crossing and waited for the Marysville Sub to come to life.  A local farmer stopped and asked if something was coming (common question along the UP). 

 Davenport, NE (just south of Ong)

We had a friendly chat before it was time for him to go on.  Eventually our wait was rewarded.





Our adventure did not end at Davenport, even though our cameras were finished for the day.  We did get into the towns of Fairbury and Marysville where the scanner came to life.  We were to make it to my friend Jim's place in Manhattan for the night so after Marysville it was time to call.  We passed a lot of granger trackage that "short range sensors" showed but nothing was left.  Out here the missing tracks were CB&Q, MoPac, Rock and UP.  We also passed sections of Kansas' only narrow gauge, but I couldn't spot them.


In the morning we would be chasing UP 844 with Jim's guidance.

BC

Marysville Sub, Davenport, NE (just south of Ong)

North Platte or Bust: Part 2, Marion, Bellevue & Fostoria

Marion Union Station

AUGUST  6, 2012:

This day began with us buying ear plugs at CVS and settling down to watch the action at Marion Union Station.  CSX and NS gave us something to watch on all lines and boy were those diamonds loud.  With daylight and an a few short lulls I also roamed around to see what historical artifacts I could photograph.  A few are mixed in. 

Marion Union Station

Marion Union Station

Right next to the station and across the former Hocking Valley line I ran into these items related to the Marion Steam Shovel Company.  Apparently its plant was across the tracks at one time.  I hadn't even given it a thought though I knew of it.  The sign was quite informative but I included a link.  Panama Canal and NASA among its work.

Northbound N&W signals

Southbound N&W signals.

Next I wandered to the 3 lines to shoot the signals.  They all had signals from previous owners dating back 50+ years and all appeared to be ready for replacement.  In fact, most had new signals installed already. 

The old N&W position signals were the most curious so I got to them first.  As CSX provided the northbound on the Hocking Valley, I got one going through the old C&O "traffic light" signals.  You can see that their days are numbered. New signals are already in place all around.

Northbound on the old C&O

Southbound local on ex-N&W

Perhaps the signals just look better when something is going by them.  Here is a sampling of trains going by the old signals.  These shots cover all three lines, though not every signal.  I already have too many pictures here.

Westbound off the Big Four.

Westbound off the Big Four.

Former E-L Caboose

Once I had my fill of the trains going by all the signals I finished getting some shots of the tower and caboose.  The tower used to be higher and on the other side of the tracks to the north.  There's an old Conrail rust cabin there now. 



I found the design of the station and the surrounding artifacts to be somewhat fascinating.  I have an N scale model of the caboose with a different paint scheme.  The tower is useful for elevated photography.  Charles did put a second video camera on the steps.  Even the brick walkways were unique.  One of the locals told us the elaborately fired bricks came from the basement floor. 

Relocated tower

Marion Union Station

 

Attica Jct., OH

Eventually we hit a lull around 11:30 am that just seemed to beckon us to move north to Bellevue.  We followed the NS line the whole way and encountered 5 trains, including an Exhibition Car train.  However, whenever we stopped to get pictures, nothing moved.  To be fair, there seemed to be a maintenance blitz going on, so the trains we saw were working around this.  Attica Jct. below just seemed to typify our plight on this route.  At this spot the CSX (where I'm standing) crosses the NS in the distance.  Trains stopped for MOW gangs as soon as we approached.  Or, they moved in the distance when we couldn't reach them.

Mad River and Nickle Plate Museum, 

Our luck changed a bit when we reached Bellevue.   MOW still had stuff stopped and much moved in the distance, but we were surrounded by museum pieces to look at while we waited.

 Bellevue, OH

Both the CN and CP provided something to watch too.  I believe the CN runs come from IC origins.

Bellevue, OH

Although a tower is in the way,  you get the idea.  CP may be here because of MILW/SOO.  The museum's just acquired railfan platform is located to the left of the tower.

NS MOW work, Bellevue, OH

The museum itself offered a huge variety of well maintained equipment and some very interesting displays of photos, papers, artifacts and misc. from all over.  Before we set out for Fostoria, we made sure we saw everything the museum had to offer.  We even drove over to a new "platform" that the museum has just acquired over nearer the tower.  It was just a concrete foundation from an old building but it would be a great legal vantage point for future visits.  By then a roof or a bench might be included.  We never found good access to the yard but the highway overpass was pretty cool to drive over.  Photos were possible but not ideal.  The sun was getting to us by this time.

Replica of Ohio's first

NKP china collection

Inside the first ever dome car.

SD-9

A quarry critter

CNW Alco

A very specialized shop motor

B&O Alco switcher

NKP cabooses

Who doesn't like that herald?

A fully equipped RPO car.

At the helm of an RSD.

NKP fans delight.

Fairbank Morse

GP30!

Dynomometer Car

Plymouth of Ohio

Mad River and Nickle Plate Museum, Bellevue, OH

Mad River and Nickle Plate Museum, Bellevue, OH

Before we left the MOW parade moved west and all of the waiting trains moved into the yard.  This line is the old Nickle Plate and is being upgraded significantly.

Mad River and Nickle Plate Museum, Bellevue, OH

Mad River and Nickle Plate Museum, Bellevue, OH

Fostoria Railroad Park

We pretty much drove straight from Bellevue to Fostoria.  We

Fostoria Railroad Park

passed large industrial complexes that included Whirlpool and its large distribution facilities.  We saw plenty but really very little to photograph well.  As it turned out, we got to Fostoria with no concrete idea where to go.  I did have clues but no location.

Fostoria Railroad Park

The new railroad park in Fostoria is as new as they get.  The "groundbreaking" was last September.  Apparently all that could be done was to level off a gravel parking spot, put out a picnic table and place an outhouse.   Apparently a long-term plan does exist and it includes the entire triangle between the three sets of diamonds.  Also, a building was recently removed which opens up the view.  But, we found it nearly by accident.  We knew only that a park existed so we looked for the tell-tale signs near one of the diamonds.

Fostoria Railroad Park

Fostoria Railroad Park

We actually missed the park as we drove into town.  We were getting pretty disgusted when the "short range sensors" showed a promising combination of tracks and roads in the north-east corner of the triangle.  Sure enough, we had gone down the wrong street on the way in and missed the tiny detail of an outhouse and picnic table.  This we soon found on our last pass.  As it turned out, this was probably the best corner to be in.  We could see all three lines fairly clearly.  In fact the tracks of two lines touched the gravel patch we parked on.

Fostoria Railroad Park

Fostoria Railroad Park

Our first trains were NS.  A westbound was going by when we arrived and a switcher in the form of a high hood SD40-2 was playing on the other track.   Not long afterwards a westbound with a UP leader went by.  This was followed by a high hood pulling a local westward.   Somewhere in this process a local woman railfan dropped by and informed us that her husband saw that an NS heritage unit (Virginian?) might be coming through from Bellevue.  His best guess was 7pm for it to show up.  Well, that got our interest.  We were thinking of leaving.  Now we knew where we'd be when the light died.  Another railfan joined us too.  He was a regular visitor to Fostoria and camped in his van.  The usual trading of info and war stories ensued.  The same woman had informed him too. 

Fostoria Railroad Park

Fostoria Railroad Park

CSX was not idle.  Their east-west line was pretty busy.  I took plenty of cluttered pictures of trains going by the tower.  Two trains slowed to make a turn north, right in front of us.  At least one train came north and turned west.  Before the light completely died, a southbound CSX came through.  This one allowed me to get my first good shot of the latest logo, which I hadn't noticed before this stop. 

When the light died, no heritage unit had been by yet.  I recall that it was through in the wee hours according to reports.  By then we were snoozing away in Lima, miles away, preparing for the next leg of our trip.

BC