Part Six

“Dummies!!”

That’s a favorite word used by my boss Angelo at News8 when someone or other circumstances don’t go exactly as planned. And if he were alongside me at O’Fallons, Nebraska this morning, he would totally agree with me.

As mentioned yesterday, I got to see one of the few remaining and working steam locomotives in the country, UP Challenger 3985. And it was scheduled to leave North Platte this morning at 9am CDT to continue its journey west back to its home base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. So I get to O’Fallons at 9am and come to find a few more railfans who heard about and came to see 3985. There was Bill, a local guy from North Platte; Lloyd and Lee, a couple from Oregon who had gone to tour some of the Great Lakes and were working their way back home; and Vernon, a resident of Hershey where O’Fallons is located.

As we are waiting, there are 2 trains sitting on their subdivisions waiting to move east and stop in at Bailey Yard. One is a loaded coal train on the South Morrill Sub and an empty auto carrier train on the Sidney Sub. As we waited, I noticed the auto carrier train ever so slowly approaching the grade crossing where us railfans were. Well, the train finally stops and we’re thinking we’re good to go. We then hear the distance moan of 3985’s whistle and then see a headlight in the distance through the trees. Turns out it was a double-stack train heading west to Cheyenne. We figured UP had send that train out first so that 3985 could get its place in line, so to speak. Well then we really hear the whistle of 3985 and see the tall smoke plumb. And then we all hear two very loud and long toots of the horn on the auto carrier. Two long toots is railroad parlance for, “we’re moving forward”. And we’re thinking, “Don’t tell us this auto carrier is going to block our view of 3985 in all of its glory?"

You guessed it. The auto carrier quickly comes up to speed and for the width of the view that we all had to see, about half of it was 3985 in the clear and the rest was just a smoke plumb being seen above the auto carrier cars. I had the same thing happened 2 years ago in Thedford, Nebraska. Heard a Burlington Northern Santa Fe coal train coming. Camera all in place in COMPELTE view of an 18-wheeler trucker who just decided to roll right in front of what would have been a perfect picture.

Yes, I know, UP has got better things to do and keep their railroad moving but man, talk about bad timing. So much for the video I promised y’all. And we railfans pretty much didn’t have much to say after that except to wish each other safe travels.

So after that debacle, it was time to head north to Pierre, the capital of South Dakota. It could not have been a better day to travel. Lots of blue sky and scattered high cirrus clouds here and there. And a good number of airplane contrails above.

Back to Thedford. This town is the first pit stop that I make while going up to Pierre. And I had quite a surprise waiting for me. As I came down from the top of a high hill into Thedford, I look down and see what is a new concrete on U.S. Route 83 and then the road in front me being completely changed. What was once a grade crossing for the BNSF is now the very large bridge:

Now I am in a slight panic and wondering how to get to the Conoco gas station and before you know it, I am in a sweeping and gentle left hand 180 degree descending curve down to the junction with Nebraska State Route 2. Turn left and go under the bridge:

And there is the Conoco station.

The old grade crossing is found to be totally removed. And in the blink of an eye, an empty BNSF unit coal train flies by at 60MPH before I could get my camera out. This bridge was quite the project considering the amount of fill that had to be brought in to build the road and the bridge abutments. Still, very impressive.

Out of Thedford and on to the next stop in Valentine, Nebraska, 9 miles from the South Dakota border. And you are out in the country:

Soon I reach the South Dakota border:

And the Rosebud Casino and Hotel:

A complex owned and operated by the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Kinda like Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun back home.

Heading north through South Dakota to Pierre is pretty much uneventful. But every time I come here, I still cannot get over the wide expanse of the rolling hills of this part of the prairie as these photos can attest:

And along the very winding road on approach to Murdo and then I-90 East:

And finally the square miles in the center of South Dakota known as the Fort Pierre National Grasslands. As seen from the following views on U.S. Route 83:

South:

West:

East:

North:

And where the cattle play:

I arrive in Pierre in the late afternoon and then it’s off to dinner with my friend Jenn and her daughters Miranda and Rebecca. Spaghetti by request.

Friday we head out west to the mount with George, Thomas, Teddy, and Abe. We’ll stop by what looks like a turn of the century western town, and a small town that has a certain name to it.

I’m Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Pierre, South Dakota.