In May I will be making the following trip:
Kansas City to Bailey’s yard in North Platte Neb, to Denver, to Albuquerque, to Flagstaff, to Kelso, Ca and up the Cima line; finally ending in Las Vegas.
Any suggested sites to visit along the way? Museums, excursion trains, short lines, sites to view trains etc?
Steve
3 hrs north of KC in Boone IA there is a nice little museum and tourist line, and if you so desired you could run US 30 to NOP along the main line. that would be a nice drive. In denver the Colo. RR muesum is a must visit.
Boone’s a little out of the way for the Kansas City-North Platte run. But we’ve just had a thread on here with some similar requests, which you might want to check out. Meanwhile: Council Bluffs, Iowa: the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, in the old Carnegie library.
Lincoln: Camp Mookie! (First Street, a few blocks south of O Street.)
Take U.S. 30 (not I-80) west from Grand Island to North Platte. It’s almost always very close to the UP Overland Route, and you will see something! When you get to North Platte, visit the Golden Spike Tower, and also the park on the north side of town where a Big Boy and a DDA40X reside.
By all means, visit the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, west of Denver. If you’re lucky, Mudchicken and/or CopCarSS will be there to show you around.
I went from Las Vegas to Denver, and didn’t see much in the way of active railroads the entire distance. You are along the ex-D&RGW Moffat Route for a good portion of the trip west of Denver. I would say to be sure and visit Hoover Dam when you get to Vegas–the new bridge over the gorge is impressive, regardless of how far along it is at that time.