Part Two

“Have Fun.” “Be Careful.”

Words of wisdom spoken by any set of parents. But who said what?? In this day and age, they still hold their value. I was on the phone yesterday with my Dad telling him that I had made it safely to Omaha and started to make my trek west. And just like any other father at the end of the call, he said, “Be careful”. I can remember my Mom always saying “Have Fun” when going out somewhere. But it was always Dad who was the cautious one. So no matter what age you are, it always means the same.

Have fun. Be careful.

Day Two begins with a brisk morning walk down to the railroad grade crossing a half mile down the street from my hotel. And brisk is an understatement. A very strong breeze, almost wind, from the north. And add to it, some flavor…or should I say odor. Maybe scent. As Fall progresses, farmers are clearing out their cornfields and plowing under the spent corn stalks. And to add some, um, flavor, you toss in some cow manure. Blend well, wait for Mother Nature to do her thing, and you have great soil for the next growing season…if you don’t mind the smell. But to me, it alright. Quite pleasant...well to a mid-westerner’s nostrils, anyway. But for this Connecticut Yankee, it’s not too bad. Clears up the sinuses.

And before I leave Columbus, check this out:

This is what you call your super heavy duty industrial strength fertilizer tractor. Try taking that down I-95 at rush hour.

Heading west then south then back west again on the road I am traveling on, U.S. Route 30 aka The Lincoln Highway, we now arrive at the point just west of Columbus where Route 30 and the Transcontinental Railroad start to parallel themselves for pretty much the distance to Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

 

There are places on the main line where you can literally set the cruise control on your car and pace yourself with the trains. The finest horses ever made by the Electro Motive Division of General Motors of LaGrange, Illinois and by General Electric of Erie, Pennsylvania. Raw horsepower at its finest.  Most of the diesel engines inside these locomotives, or prime movers in railroad parlance, are huge. GM makes a 567 prime mover. The 567 stands for the cubic inch displacement of one cylinder of that prime mover. Put 16 cylinders them together and you have one very powerful turbo-charged V-16. Kinda like having 16 Cadillacs lined up to pull a freight train. But despite that, railroad locomotives are very fuel efficient. According to the northeast railroad CSX, one ton of freight can be moved 426 miles on a gallon of diesel fuel. Think of a double stack train containing 300 53-foot containers. On the highway, it would take 300 trucks, rated at 500 horsepower each, to move those containers. Now that is a lot of fuel. Moving those containers by rail takes two 4400 horsepower locomotives on the head end of the consist and one Distributed Power Unit (DPU locomotive) on the rear. As you can plainly see, railroads can move tons of freight quite easily. Very cool, indeed.

Midway between Clarks and Silver Creek, I come across this unusual freight:

 

It is a train of empty container well cars. On the Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, these unit trains are known as "bare tables”.

After grabbing lunch in Grand Island, I come thru the town of Alda and I just had to take this picture:

It is the local post office; zip code 68810. 

During a previous trip out here in 2001, I remember bringing along some photographs that my daughter Caty wanted and for whatever reason, I had no time to mail them out back home. So I brought them along with me in hoping to find a post office along the way. And lo and behold, I found the one in Alda, right on U.S. Route 30. At the least, there is about 800 square feet of working space. And on the front counter is one very old but quite accurate weighing scale. In these tough times at the U.S. Post Office, it’s nice to see that this little branch is alive and well.

As I head west, I have been taking notice of the miles and miles of cornfields out here in Nebraska. As most of you know, the Midwest went thru quite the drought this past summer. And in some respects, the drought still exists though there has been some rain relief. If a farmer is lucky enough to afford irrigation for his crop, then he is at least one step ahead of Mother Nature. There are still cornfields that do have some corn yet to be harvested, but a lot of the fields have been plowed under for the season. But then again, there does seem to be some good news out of the drought. Witness these corn piles in the town of Shelton:

 

Some of the corn is out in the sun while some is under those huge white tarpons.  

And then there is this huge pile of corn inside this modern barn and there are plenty of ventilation fans drawing out the moisture. 

Soon this corn will be loaded into covered hopper cars and heading towards an Archer Daniels Midland processing plant to be made into fructose corn syrup or to be turned into ethanol to be blended with gasoline for fuel around the country. Oh, and speaking of gasoline, it is averaging around $3.66 a gallon out here. A lot better than what it is in Connecticut!!

So it’s west to Kearney and upon arrival at the one place where you can be on municipal property to watch trains, I come upon this:

A very long black ornamental steel fence. And across the tracks on the other side of the Central Avenue grade crossing where Kearney Junction Park is, there is a grey chain link fence along the tracks:

Who knows what may have caused these fences to be erected. Most likely for liability and safety issues by the railroad; maybe by the town fathers; maybe both. In all of the years I have been a railfan, I have always maintained a safe distance. Always listening to activity on a scanner.  In all honesty, it is a sign of the times. This is still a great town to come to and see trains. But the view will now be a bit tarnished. Nothing a railfan can do. But the railroads are very appreciative of us when we do see something and say something and call the emergency numbers listed at every grade crossing and signal bungalow. In this railfan’s eyes, it’s a darn shame. But then again, you cannot stop progress or those who ruin it for the rest of us. All you can do is accept the fact and move on. Now if only clear aluminum existed. Star Trek’s Scotty had a great idea!!

And as I finish today’s entry, Steve Martin and his 1978 hit “King Tut” is playing on my rental car’s Sirius/XM satellite radio. Sure do remember that song. Boy, I am getting old.

So concludes Day Two. Tomorrow we will go around Kearney and see what other pics we can get. The weather is just being spectacular. But then again, this is the Midwest. Anything is possible.

I’m Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Kearney, Nebraska.