Nostalgia & History > Signal Sunday: Fremont, NE

During the late 1970s Fremont, Nebraska was one of those UP meccas that I was always eager to visit. It seemed like the whole railfan world knew all about the famous C&NW ~ UP connection where much of UP’s transcontinental run through traffic originated. And I had yet to see it. I finally got my chance in the fall of 1981. As I recall the UP didn’t have much to show me in my initial visit. But that other RR, the BN was very hospitable. In the couple of hours I spent there on that trip they sent me a manifest and this local which is crossing the supposedly busy UP double main on the west side of downtown. Those signals, the subject of this thread are dark even with that BN local scooting across. Of course they won’t be dark for long. Uncle Pete will just have to run some trains. But for this intrepid photographer they wouldn’t light up until my next visit to Fremont, several years later…

1. BN 6059 crosses the UP main line in Fremont, NE on October 8, 1981.

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/22 20:53 by santafe199.

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EXCELLENT slide , Lance. Thanks for sharing. --Kelly

This would be the Ashland to Sioux City local. At this time it was a down (from SC) one day and up (from Ashland) the other six days, a week. The conductor would have been my neighbor (Arneson was his last name) who was an old Q man. This train was assigned a lightweight SD7 and was the only train on the BN that did not need to exchage its power in S. Sioux City, NE to cross the Missouri River bridge at Sioux City, IA. This train did not survive the Regan recession of 1982 and its local work was moved to the BN Lincoln to SC train.

Great shot, Lance!
Gary

To Sam's comments, not to mention that the "new" bridge at Sioux City on the now BNSF is more than capable of handling
a bit more weight.

Out

You can still have a little trouble hitting just the right time for UP trains there!

Thanks for posting.

That's not true, I can tell you when there's a fair number of UP trains crossing there-middle of the night!
Living in Arlington for nine years it seemed like mid-day would be dead, about midnight there'd be train after
train. Considering Chicago area ramp times that wasn't too surprising.

Out