Railfan Trip Reports > Kansas And Nebraska Trip 2005

This was my first time in the state of Nebraska with the UP and BNSF and I must say I really enjoyed myself with the main line action, getting a well needed break from the NS main line back in my home town and state of Emmaus, Pa. Trip lasted 7 days with only one bad day of rain. Shot about 32 rolls of film and I would like to share some of my favorite shots with the western board. These shots were all taken on Fujichrome Astia 100 film and scanned with my flatbed scanner. Excuse any flaws I might have performed while editing them. Hope you all enjoy!

First train we have here is a UP eastbound OPSX coal train at Brady, NE with UP's 6590, 6654 on 9-19-05

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UP eastbound manifest at Brady, NE with UP, 4352, CSX 9007 and UP 9788 on 9-19-05

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Eastbound UP freight with a pair of SD40-2’s 3274, 2762 about to pass under Rt. 30 at Maxwell, NE on 9-19-05

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Arriving in North Platte, NE for the first time ever, we only had to wait about 5 minutes until we got our first train. Here is a UP eastbound manifest with UP’s 4782, 2959 an SD40-2 at North Platte on 9-19-05

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UP westbound freight with UP’s 6595 and a untouched SP AC4400W 373 blasting through Hershey, NE on 9-19-05

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Next up about 8 minutes later is an eastbound OVEX coal train with UP’s 6659, 6031 at Hershey, NE on 9-19-05

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Westbound double stack train with brand new UP GEVO 5506 and brand new SD70ACE 8405 at Hershey, NE on 9-19-05.

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We had to give chase west with this guy, for we new that there was track work up ahead at O’Fallon’s, NE. Here we see the train highballing west after work crew cleared up. We then gave chase to a loaded coal train back to Hershey.

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We got our eastbound WPSX coal train with a pair of SD90MACS, 8253, 8070 back at Hershey.

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Hot on his tail was a loaded Jeffries Energy train JECX loads with UP 7221, BNSF 8933, BNSF 9572 at Hershey, NE 9-19-05. These trains are almost always guaranteed A UP leader and BNSF power trailing.

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Minutes after the Jeffries train we have a westbound freight splitting the signal gantries at Hershey, NE with UP’s 4013, 3814 and 9769

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We then started to head back east towards Kearny, NE well knowing that all west bounds would have sweet light on them. Here back at North Platte, we have a westbound GGPX empty hopper train with UP’s 4166, 9534. If you look close, you can se the head end of the passing auto rack train up in the right hand corner that the empty hopper train is passing.

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Back at Brady, NE we shot a west bound ETRX empty hopper train with UP’s 6463, patched SP 6807.

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Heading further east, we had to stop at Cozad for the west bounds passing the huge grain elevators. First up is a westbound auto rack with UP’s 4595, 5134 and a GCFX SD40-3 6037.

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Hot on his tails is a westbound OGEX empty hopper train with an awesome lash up of 2 UP SD90MACS 8063, 8258 and a SP AC4400W patch job 6854.

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With the sun sinking down, we get this west bound manifest with a UP 4002 and an NS SD40-2 6109 at Dorr, NE on 9-19-05

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We had talked to a UP conductor earlier on this morning and he stated something about a possible Operation Lifesaver move. Well, right away we are thinking E9”S but here is what he was talking about. Here is an OLS train move with no people being powered by 2 UP’s push, pull. It is a solid passenger car train and caboose from the Chippewa Valley RR. We had seen this train pull into the yard at Kearney, NE in darkness on 9-18-05. Nice treat for ending the day.

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Starting out in Marysville, NE on 9-21-05, we started just west of Marysville at Herkimer, NE We nailed an eastbound AEPC coal train with yet another pair of SD90MACS 8236, 8171 in this awesome shot with a lot of big white puffy clouds.

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We then chased this guy east down the Marysville Sub, and got him again at Upland, KS Was very surprised, that the traffic density was kind of dead on the sub. Our goal was to get to KS and set up shop at The Bottoms and Santa Fe Jct. for the remainder of our trip.

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Here we are at the “Bottoms and Santa Fe Jct., area. This place is just unreal. There are so many trains moving at any given time, that the most elaborate scanner in the world is of no use. You just old school it and just sit and wait. Here is a westbound UP stack train passing through the Santa Fe Jct. KS area with UP’s 4866, 9636.

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