I awoke to a nice sunny morning in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was already getting rather hot at 0800. It was going to be a hot one.
After getting my gear together I set out to see what was in town. I drove to the Omaha, Lincoln & Nebraska but their power is all stored indoors. However, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe eastbound was just coming into town.
- 0814 CDT Lincoln, Nebraska - BNSF eastbound - BNSF 9740-CEFX 1016 w/ DPU BNSF 9646
After the eastbound passed I started my westward trek. I found an interesting location near Seward, Nebraska where I waited for some action. Before long the coal trains started showing up.
- 0934 CDT Seward, Nebraska - BNSF eastbound - BNSF 5964-BNSF 9379 w/ DPU BNSF 9910-BNSF 5798
- 0941 CDT Seward, Nebraska - BNSF westbound - BNSF 9774-BNSF 5952 w/ DPU BNSF 5924-BNSF 8926
- 0952 CDT Seward, Nebraska - BNSF westbound - BNSF 6133-BNSF 9437 w/ DPU BNSF 9703-BNSF 5946
- 1006 CDT Seward, Nebraska - BNSF westbound - BNSF 8899-BNSF 8864
The last eastbound stopped in the distance and I figured it was a good opportunity to continue west. The next town west was Tamora where I ran across three locomotives at a grain elevator.
- 1032 CDT Tamora, Nebraska - elevator switcher - RE 1072 & UFC 1096-IBCX 7309 (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4, photo 5)
Parked in the distance was an eastbound that I couldn't get near. I hung around for a little while and was presented with a pair of westbound coal empties.
- 1036 CDT Tamora, Nebraska - BNSF westbound - BNSF 9787-BNSF 6060-BNSF 8974
- 1053 CDT Tamora, Nebraska - BNSF westbound - BNSF 8818-BNSF 5844 w/ DPU BNSF 5898
While driving westward out of Tamora I came to the conclusion that no eastbounds were getting through Lincoln. They were parked everywhere. Only a couple were accessible for photography.
- 1124 CDT Utica, Nebraska - BNSF eastbound - BNSF 6086 w/ DPU (photo)
- 1139 CDT Waco, Nebraska - BNSF eastbound - BNSF 9393 w/ DPU (photo)
When I arrived at Bradshaw, Nebraska I found a parked westbound rail train on the elevator track, a Cargill switcher and yet another parked eastbound coal train. In total I think I counted nine parked coal trains.
- 1209 CDT Bradshaw, Nebraska - BNSF westbound - BNSF 2324-EMDX 761 (photo 1, photo 2)
- 1218 CDT Bradshaw, Nebraska - Cargill switcher - RE 807 (photo 1, photo 2)
On my continued travels westward I encountered some parked power in Aurora.
- 1248 CDT Aurora, Nebraska - BNSF power - BNSF 1511-BNSF 2966 (photo 1, photo 2)
- 1249 CDT Aurora, Nebraska - BNSF caboose - BN 12121 (photo)
At Grand Island I left the Burlington Northern Santa Fe behind and began following the Union Pacific. Before I encountered any Union Pacific trains I discovered an SD40 elevator switcher in Wood River.
Travelling farther west I noticed that the Cargill elevator in Shelton was loading corn into hoppers. Two switchers were at the elevator. One was parked, the other pulling the hoppers through the elevator.
- 1359 CDT Shelton, Nebraska - Cargill switcher - JTPX 62 "Ruth" (photo 1, photo 2)
- 1401 CDT Shelton, Nebraska - Cargill switcher - CRGX 9349 (photo 1, photo 2)
While photographing the switchers I saw the headlights of a westbound approaching.
- 1405 CDT Shelton, Nebraska - UP westbound - UP 9672-UP 9096
I continued westward to Gibbon where I found another elevator switcher but before I could photograph it another Union Pacific westbound was approaching. It was starting to get busy.
- 1427 CDT Gibbon, Nebraska - UP westbound - UP 5947-UP 6206
- 1429 CDT Gibbon, Nebraska - elevator switcher - CRGX no # (photo)
- 1439 CDT Gibbon, Nebraska - UP westbound - UP 4244-UP 9496
I travelled on in search of some more interesting scenery. The town of Odessa afforded me a somewhat better view so I stuck around for a few trains. The previous two westbounds caught up to me after an eastbound.
- 1524 CDT Odessa, Nebraska - UP eastbound - UP 5693-UP 6277 w/ DPU 6833
- 1534 CDT Odessa, Nebraska - UP westbound - UP 5947-UP 6206
- 1547 CDT Odessa, Nebraska - UP westbound - UP 4244-UP 9496
- 1557 CDT Odessa, Nebraska - UP westbound - UP 5895-UP 7261 w/ DPU 6388
I missed a few other trains as well. The traffic was heavy but the day was getting on and it was stinking hot. I wanted to visit the Nebraska Kansas Colorado Railnet so I drove south to Holdrige. As I drove into town I could see a westbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe train pulling through town. My timing was a bit off but I photographed a Chicago, Burlington & Quincy caboose at the station.
- 1639 CDT Holdrege, Nebraska - display caboose - CB&Q 12274 (photo)
I found the NKCR tracks and immediately found the tail end of a pipe train parked on the mainline. I was surprised to find a pair of Canadian Pacific ES44ACs on the head end.
- 1650 CDT Holdrege, Nebraska - Nebraska Kansas Colorado Railnet westbound - CP 8835-CP 8812 (photo)
I started following the tracks west and discovered a former Indiana Railroad SD9 which is now an elevator switcher in Loomis.
I continued driving along the tracks through some amazing Nebraska scenery and eventually found another pipe train with Canadian Pacific locomotives. This time the train was empty in Maywood. At various places along my route I could see where a pipeline was being laid. Beyond the pipe train was another elevator switcher.
- 1831 CDT Maywood, Nebraska - Nebraska Kansas Colorado Railnet eastbound - CP 9629-CP 8742
- 1834 CDT Maywood, Nebraska - elevator switcher - AGV 7517 (photo)
My ultimate goal for the NKCR was Grant where the railway is headquartered. I was rewarded with three former Detroit Edison SD40s and a Nebraska Kansas Colorado Railnet GP40.
1956 CDT Grant, Nebraska - Nebraska Kansas Colorado Railnet power - HLCX 5004-HLCX 5001-DLCX 6410-HLCX 5005 (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4, photo 5, photo 6)
Wow, what a productive day. It was very hot, but I managed to photograph a wide variety of interesting locomotives. I headed north to the Super 8 Motel in Ogallala, Nebraska for the night. Nebraska was good to me.
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