Spent a couple of hours sitting on UP’s triple main in Nebraska. Caught many trains going to Buttermilk Curve and then on my way to North Platte. Crunched into a little more than 7 minutes, here’s 18 trains in a little more than 2 hours of action. Hunger and cold forced me to move on.
Enjoy
Paul
Now THAT is what I call a REALLY busy stretch of railroad!!! Is it normally that busy?
It’s kind of like watching a tennis match. Did you neck get tired?
I also ask, is it like that 24/7 ot was this an unusal day?
Where the heck is that? If it’d be half that busy I’d go there! Neat video.
EDIT: I just saw in the tags that it’s in Nebraska. Makes me want to head that way to visit my sister more! LOL!
That it is in Nebraska. Someone has a video out called “150 Trains a Day, UP’s Triple Main” or something like that. I was out there last year also and it was just as busy. Tried to eat a pizza with my Nephew just outside of Kearney and never even had a chance to enjoy it hot, in the 25 minutes it took us to eat it, we saw 11 trains. If you go out there and want to rest, catch up on something, read, it just not going to happen.
I like the place that I took the videos. Nobody to gawk at you, just off the hiway, sun at your back. Really cant ask for more except for higher ground to get the meets…lol. Since it’s about 40-50 miles East of North Platte, trains can and do stack up this far (as it did last year, got across just before another westbound blocked the crossing) trying to get into the yard. Not much chatter on the scanner. Nobody calls out signals, rollbys and the dectors only “talk” when there is a problem.
Location: http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=40.999915&lon=-100.338048&zoom=15
It took me 11 hours and 786 miles to get to the triple main from Appleton Wi area. Hwy 41S-Hwy 151S-I80W.
The action on the triple main is intense. Even if you don’t like the UP, just the volume of the trains is mind-boggling. Took me 19 years to get back out there (1988-2007), and been back there 3 times.
Paul
Now that is wild…! That’s action, real railroading. Couldn’t quite tell which way was upgrade. Thought it sounded like we could hear dynamics working in both directions. Whatever, it was great.
that had to be the best day ever, I would love to go out west to this differnt places. If I can get one of my friends to go this will be one of my vactions that I would take plus it would be the first time out west.[8D]
I counted 18 trains in the ~3 hour time frame that you were there. I’m gonna have to get there some time. Thanks for sharing.
Now it can be revealed: Pat and I will be going back there sometime next spring–not to or from anywhere else necessarily, just there. Well, we will be checking out the new observation tower in North Platte if the storms haven’t blown it over, and I’m pretty sure we’ll hit Camp Mookie again. But one thing we probably won’t hit (at least west of Grand Island) is I-80. It’ll be 30 all the way!
Last year I took Hwy 30 and it was a bit slower. You gotta love the trains tho. If it was during the day (this year), I would have jumped onto hwy 30 from Omaha.
Great Action Shots.
What is the grade and where is the high point?
Where all the shot from the same side of the tracks?
What program did you use to edit your video? Very smooth cuts.
Thank You for not adding music.
I would like to see the topographic timetable for that stretch of railroad. To me it looked pretty much flat but if I remember, that spot that I was at is on top of a hill of some sort. Everything I taped was from the same side of the tracks, southside. Pretty nice when the sun is shining, it’s at your back. The program that I used is the one that came with the digital camcorder. JVC Everio. I tried to “produce” the clips in High Def but for some reason, either the program or my computer wouldn’t let me. Never liked music in any videos, escpecially trains.
thanks for enjoying
Paul
Geez - that’s like a train every 7+ minutes ! I only wish UP hadn’t held back - holiday, you know - and really let’em roll ! [;)] This video is quite dramatic.
Or, are you sure you didn’t stumble on some rich guy’s - you know, like Warren Buffett, who lives not too far away in Omaha - giant large-gauge outdoor model railroad while he was running the trains to show off for his holiday guests or grandchildren ? How do you know these tracks didn’t circle around behind the hill in the background to form a loop, and these trains were just running laps ? A couple of them going back and forth sure looked an awful lot alike to me . . .
Good grief, what if that crossing in the foreground had the standard flashing lights and gates, instead of the “Stop” sign ? Between all 3 tracks, would the crossing’s advance detection circuits ever be unoccupied long enough for the gates to go up so that somebody could actually cross ? (reminds me of a Friday night on a Labor Day weekend at Horse Shoe Curve about 40 years ago - but that’s another story . . . ).
Really neat seeing the multiple “meets” happening right in front of you, including some with the passage of the ends coinciding, too (i.e., at 1 min. 48 sec. to 2 min. 04 sec., etc.). Don’t recall seeing any “passes”, though - all the trains seemed to be moving at about the same speed - pretty fast !
In the late 1960’s or early 1970’s - when prospects for the industry didn’t look too good - former Trains Editor David P. Morgan wrote a caption for a 2-page spread of a Richard Steinheimer photo of an entire train (SP, I think) on a desert valley floor. I believe the photo was titled “Out Where a Train is a Train”, and the thrust of the essay was the inherent efficiency and advantages of flanged wheels on steel rails, freed of the encumb
Are there grade crossings on that line? I can’t imagine how often they would be blocked by trains. Not that it would bother people like us of course.
There are some crossings–and in the middle of this stretch is Kearny, a good-sized city where horns blare out from the crossing signs, if I remember correctly.
At the UP Museum in Council Bluffs, there was a mockup of a locomotive cab, with assorted on-track videos visible out the windows. They were run at speeds significantly higher than normal, and the one taken on the three-track main line showed plenty of trains being both met and passed.
While seeing three tracks’ worth of freight trains moving at high speed are probably the most impressive sight to be found on that line, that won’t be my preference. I’ll want them going by more slowly, so I can observe and document interesting freight cars. To that end, we’ve found this neat fabric store in North Platte, the back of which is right up next to the tracks east of the yard. Nice weather and a bench would be all I’d need (it was cold last time we were there). “But we can’t go now–there’s another headlight!”
Buttermilk Curves! Great place to watch UP in action. I’ve been there, saw a couple or three trains and moved on to North Platte. Went by there once and saw that a coal train had derailed, and was happy I was not on the south side of the tracks that day or I would have been there a long time. Another great place to see action is at Gibbon Junction. There the triple track ends - double track on to Fremont, Omaha and on to Chicago and double track south to Marysville, Topeka, Kansas City and who knows from there - Texas, Louisana, just to name a couple. Plan a trip to UP territory in Nebraska and be sure to take US 30 west from Grand Island and you will see real railroad action.
Paul
I never thought about a train derailing and getting stuck on the south side of the tracks, then again, last year almost got stuck cause traffic was backing up in North Platte.
I wish I would have explored the editing for my camera. The fleet operations on the BNSF through Grand Island. A train every 10 minutes. Caught 8 northbounds but only one over-under meet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_n0-cnOLt4&feature=channel_page Maybe next spring, an all 3-meet and maybe even the very rare all 3 meet at the same time (3 meeting on/under the bridge). One can only hope and wish
Paul
Oh, and I used the edit program on youtube for the time stamps. Pretty easy once you get used to it.
Paul