Have any of you been railfaning in Wyoming or Nebraska? I am going to go this Fall and I have a few spots in mind, I am wondering if there are any others that I do not know of. These are the spots I would like to go.
Grand Island by all means.The Senior Center at the 2nd street grade crossing offers UP east/west at ground level.The new BNSF overhead crossing is there also.BNSF east/west coal and freight.Sometimes able to get pics or vid of UP and BNSF together,UP on the level and BNSF over the top.Parking on public areas is plentiful.Have fun!!
Dave W.
Omaha,Nebr.
Chadron, NE (nebkota)
Stay off I-80 and follow the UP on US-30 (Look at the elevators, strange & unusual power can be found in many places along the line! Including (*)
Mookietown (OL&B plus Mookie’s favorites plus the working GP9-B at Havelock)…
Watch for the occasional Nebraska Central power at Grand Island…most of it hides at Norfolk, NE (too far out of your way)
Sidney & Lowe (in NW quadrant of US-30 & US 138 interchange…old Army Ammo Red Sioux facility)
(*)Alcophiliacs need to look at Kearney, Mead, Beatrice ,Bradshaw, Omaha/Florence PP, Ord, Plymouth, Seward,Sydney, Sutherland, etc. and see if these mostly small Relco units are still burbling around…
NKC RailNet at Grant, NE
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Hey MC - I saw an SD9-3 #6199 - which is our resident remote. I looked it up and if I have my figures right - it is a '55-'57 issue. Does this make it older or same age as the GP9-B at Havelock? Sez there are only 2 of them. And what about the SW10 and SW15 we have - they look really old - but don’t have my book with me (Millie is guarding it)
Gotta go to Havelock and do some hunting - after the 97 degree heat goes away.
Mookie
As has been suggested, take US 30 west from Grand Island all the way to North Platte and from experience in the past, you will see plenty of action. One stop along the way could be Gibbon Jct. where the line to Kansas City begins its southeasterly journey. Don’t know about now, but the last time I was there, I was able to cross the tracks and get in a spot where you could see them coming from all directions. Another place is what they call “buttermilk curves”. There is an access road that crosses the tracks, but UP might not like you being there now. I was there some time back and had no problems. The “curves” are not really hard to locate as they are about the only ones of any signifigance all along the route. If I’m not mistaken, they are in the area east of Maxwell. Have fun. Paul
So much stuff to see![:D] So little time![V]
Should be of similar body style, only 4 axles and no cab (the guy hangs out of a door with a small porch roof where the cab would be…)
Like this:http://archive.trainpix.com/BN/EMDRBLD/GP9B/602.HTM or this:http://archive.trainpix.com/BN/EMDRBLD/GP9B/604.HTM (604 was usually at Havelock shops)
The end cab switchers are probably older by 10-15 years, I can’t remember what they were before the capital rebuild programs, they are mongrels now.
[:D][:D][:D]
OO - great pix MC! I will have to go hunting now. Now that I know what to look for - but not sure they will let me that close to the shops. They get kind of fussy about “lurkers”.
Those aren’t mongrels - they are “Mookies”…1/8th of what ever was in the yard - several different times…
La Moo
You better not get up too close to Havloc. By the way, I feel it is a “essential” to stop at Gibbon, Nebraska for a couple hours. I went railfanning there a few weeks ago, it was great, got alot of photos. There is a local that ran through there that did some heavy switching at the cargill plant, probably will run through again. It was about 3-4-5 is range. They have a rebuilt GP-9 that’s in the siding there, just be carful that you don’t trespass or do anything stupid. If you have a good camera, you can sit by the highway and zoom to get a shot of the switcher, or anything else that goes by. It’s really up to you, but with a train every 10 minutes, how can you go wrong?
$.02 worth: if you go to Gibbon, you should really check out Marysville, KS a few miles east (complete with a Mission-style depot still used by crews.) And a bit further is a spot named Aikens where you can get long shots from several elevations (lots of hills in this part of KS.) All kinds of public access.
Thanks
Don’t know how far west you planned to go, but we enjoyed following US 30 from Laramie to Medicine Bow (Home of the actual, still operating, Virginian Hotel). They have converted the depot into a nice little museum and Uncle Pete puts about 100 trains a day through there.
dd
West of Medicine Bow is a small coal town…Hanna, WY. There are two nice overpasse that will give great views, as well as some often used sidings in Hanna. Coal faciilities there are about shut down now, but there is lots of thru traffic…