Part Three

“Dude.”

That would be the subdued voice of the Hippy Dippy Weatherman this morning. Overcast skies and rain showers greet me as we begin another day here on the prairies. But despite the bleak start to the day, there are two glimpses of sunlight on the horizon. Skies clearing for this afternoon are the first glimpse. The second glimpse came after Part Two was put to bed last night. Remember that flat tire from yesterday?? Come to find out that right across the street from my hotel in Kearney is an office of the same car rental place as where I got my car at Eppley Field in Omaha. I talked to the gentleman behind the counter and told him of my predicament. After doing a walk-around of the car and getting the flat tire, he told me that the tire would be fixed at their local affiliate at no charge to me and it would be done by the end of today. So far, so good.

I then worked my way back towards Gibbon to fill you in on a couple of items from yesterday to be presented today. First is this picture from the town of Shelton:

These are grain elevators where corn kernels are collected and loaded into grain cars for shipment to market. As you drive along U.S. 30, you can pretty much determine where the next town is located as the structure rises as you approach each town. Check out that huge pile of kernels!!

Second is this pile of derailed coal hopper cars located midway between Gibbon and Kearney.

Apparently, there was a derailment here back on September 9. According to the Kearney Hub:

“Authorities believe rail cars from one train jumped the track and slammed into a train rolling in the opposite direction Wednesday night, causing 58 coal-laden and empty train cars to derail east of Kearney….Union Pacific was at work today replacing 2,600 feet of track in its three-track mainline that was damaged in the derailment….It involved an eastbound UP train that was traveling from Wyoming to Kansas City, and a westbound train going from Kansas City to Wyoming. Somewhere mid-train on one of them there was a derailment. Some of the cars spilled over into the other train, and derailed cars on that train. The eastbound, fully loaded coal train, which had 105 cars, had 40 of its cars derail. The westbound, empty coal train, had 126 cars, and derailed 18….12 of the 40 full cars had been moved out of the way, and 16 of the 18 empty cars were removed. As a result of the derailment, all three main-line tracks were damaged. One track they need about 300 feet to open it, 400 feet on the second track, and 1,900 on the third track.”

As you tell by the pictures, there’s not much left to these cars once a derailment gets going. Until all of that momentum stops, it’s pretty much like riding a wild bronco until either A) he throws you off or B) he gets tired. I guarantee the former will happen before the latter. And considering the aluminum plates used to built these hopper cars are at least an inch thick:

That must have been some kind of force to punch a hole that big into the side. Kinda give you the shivers.

At around 11am, we’re back at the municipal parking lot in Kearney:

A perfect place to sit back and watch the trains roll by. And while we’re at it, some history about our host city. According to Wikipedia, before Kearney was named Kearney, it was called Dobytown and it was located 2 miles southeast of the present-day Kearney. Later the city was moved and renamed after the nearby Fort Kearny (with an extra "e" added, but pronounced the same), a United States Army outpost along the Oregon Trail in the middle 19th century. The fort was named after Col. and later General Stephen W. Kearny. The "e" was added by mistake sometime afterwards by postmen who consistently misspelled the town’s name. Eventually it just stuck. The current location of the city is on the North side of the Platte River and steadily grew as a result of the influence of the railroad.

The biggest employers in the city are the Good Samaritan Hospital (complete with its own helipad and medical transport helicopter) and the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Other major employers include The Buckle Corporate Headquarters, Eaton Corporation, Baldwin Filters, Marshall Engines Inc, and West Company Pharmaceuticals. And at the southeast corner of the grade crossing at Central Avenue and N. Railroad Street, there is this nice little park to kick back and watch the trains roll by.

And did I mention that we are in the heart of Tornado Alley?? On May 29, 2008, Kearney was hit by 3 tornadoes at about 5:30pm, lasting about 15 minutes. The majority of the damage was to the northern part of the town. Some of this action was seen last season on Storm Chasers on The Discovery Channel. And I can say that I have traveled the local roads where these tornadoes came through. Though Connecticut, where I am from, has seen its share of tornadoes in the past few years, folks out here have the big advantage of the flatness of the prairie, which gives you a very large view of the sky. I can attest to this when I first came out to the Midwest in October 1997. I was in the middle of Iowa west of Marshalltown when this huge, very dark gray wall cloud appeared to the southwest of me and I could see 2 spiraling clouds appearing just overhead. Let it be know that I could hear Dorothy saying something about Kansas in the back of my mind. Scary stuff.

It’s still overcast after coming back from Runza’s Burgers and Sandwiches when this interesting eastbound comes charging through Kearney. This unit train is 55 cars in length and has the reporting marks ARMN.

They are part of Union Pacific’s 4,950-car mechanical refrigerator fleet, carrying fresh fruit and produce from the West to parts East. And it was fascinating to see that every single car in the consist was covered with some sort of graffiti. In fact, out of all of the trains I have seen so far on my trip, there are not that many cars that have no graffiti on them at all.

The clouds and the rain started to slowly clear out at about 2pm. And as this was happening, I saw what was the longest freight train that I have ever seen. Three locomotives on the head end and 176 cars with a helper locomotive cut in between cars 90 and 91. About 9000 feet of train. Took about 3 minutes for it to past by. You can see the video on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bopOv0gxlYE

At 3:30pm, my cell phone rings and the rental car folks say that my tire has been fixed and it is ready to be picked up. I head over to the fine folks at Garrett Tires & Treads on W. 25^th Street and Boyd and William take care of things and we are good to go. Many thanks!!

Anyway, on Tuesday we head west towards the town of Cozad, our next station stop. We’ll revisit one of the powerhouse radio stations in the state, KRVN, Ag Radio 880, located in Lexington; a side trip to Holdrege to find this huge broadcast tower I have seen before from a distance; and more about the Union Pacific and some of its infrastructure. The rain has stopped. That aforementioned glimpse of sunlight is starting to look mighty fine.

And speaking of sunlight, Dave from News8 emailed me remembering a trip he took going cross-country through where I am years ago, saying he loved the sunsets. Well Dave, here’s your wish, taken at the grade crossing near my hotel in Columbus on Saturday evening:

And we end this installment by saying Happy Columbus Day!! For those of you who got to enjoy a 3-day weekend, I hope it was a restful one.

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