December Blair Sub Construction Update 21012

A week before Christmas I was able to get out and take a look at the construction progress on the Blair Sub. In short not much has taken place but there are a couple of items worth reporting.

Arlington, NE

The new double track bridge was cut in in late November. This involved replacing the current bridge with the construction of a new double track concrete deck bridge.

At the grain elevator in Arlington MOW crews were noted working with panel track sections. I do not know what they were doing or if these panels are going to be used in the area.

Kennard, NE

The biggest development is the relaying of the old Kennard siding as the second main track. This section was completely rebuilt and two new bridges were installed as part of this rebuild. The track had been laid and connected at the old West Kennard switch but had not been ballasted when I visited. Crews where noted moving ballast regulators and tampers into the spur on the west side of Kennard. Once this track is finished the line will be double tracked from CP Allen Creek to a mile east of California Jct, IA and then from CP Duffy on the southwest side of Blair to the west end of the old Kennard siding.

Fremont to Missouri Valley

From east Fremont, NE to Missouri Valley, IA no new work was noted. The new row that was created from west Kennard to the west side of Arlington is ready for ties and rail to be installed. The crossings that will receive flashers have had the new bases installed and signal boxes all wired for the installations.

A UP conductor was noted as indicating that the union announced that no new work would occur on the project until 2014. There was no indication that the current work would be finished in 2013 or if the project  will be dormant until 2014.

Spring weather and time will tell.

A cloudy Saturday

On Saturday, I was able to sneak away for a couple of hours to do some train watching making a circle from Omaha to Fremont to Missouri Valley and back to Omaha. This seems to be one of my  more permanent train watching patterns as I typically encounter a fair number of trains following this route.

During the overnight and Saturday morning we had our first rain in quite awhile.The 1/2 to 3/4 inches of rain made the back roads interesting to drive on later in the day while I was out on the Blair Sub. It also left the sky dark and full of heavy clouds. So making the best of it I converted the days images to black and white.

Heading out of Omaha, I didn't encounter any trains until the Dodge St/Hwy 6 over crossing near 144th where I spotted the tell end of a eastbound bare table. I was hoping that this wouldn't be the way the morning was going to go. By the time I got to Fremont I was really wondering if the day was going to be a bust as I hadn't encountered any trains until then. Just east of  Fremont while on old Hwy 275 I was greeted by the MNCCB heading toward Omaha behind UP 4935-2168-4721.

UP 6532 leads a train of company hoppers eb toward Fremont, NE.

Continuing on into town and crossing over the ex CNW yard on S. Bell st, I spotted a westbound booze train changing crews. I started to head over toward the BNSF/UP diamonds but noticed that the train had already started to head west so I drove over to Ridge rd to get a shot of the train with the town in the background. No sooner had I pulled up and an eastbound coal load of company hoppers starts blowing for the crossing. UP 6532-7255 DPU 6392 rolled out of the fog and misty low cloud to block my planned shot of the booze train. I was hoping that the booze train would slow down or stop but soon UP 5693-6189 rolled past me on the opposite side. Crap I hate it when that happens.

Coal loads and booze

Once the coal loads cleared the crossing I headed on up to Pappa siding on the BNSF to see if any southbound BNSF trains were holding while the UP trains cleared the diamonds. The siding was empty but the Fremont switch engine, BNSF 2828 was parked on the Frontier Grain spur.

With no action on the BNSF I headed back south and noticed a set of eastbound headlights on the UP from the N. Pierce st crossing. I pulled over and parked hoping to catch them as they pulled into town. After a couple of minutes the eastbound hadn't moved any closer to me so I started to head for the BNSF side of town.

Broken chatter on the scanner had a northbound BNSF train releasing the track warrant from Elk siding south to Ashland and BNSF 7356-6824 soon brought a north bound empty booze train across the diamonds.The radio chatter continued on the BNSF side with the dispatcher placing the northbound booze train into the siding at Pappa and moving a southbound from the siding at Elk down toYutan siding to meet another northbound out of Ashland who was to meet the southbound that the booze train sitting at Pappa is waiting for at Elk siding. Got that?

The BNSF was fairly busy but I wanted to check on the Blair sub double tracking and decided to head that way instead of chasing the BNSF. Before heading out of town I spotted the BNSF local power tied down west of the depot with BNSF 2809-2304 being the assigned power. Over at the UP depot the UP Fremont switcher power UP 517-833 were tied down in their usual spot.

Heading east and crossing over the ex CNW yard I noticed a green signal for a westbound to head off the Blair sub to the Columbus sub. While driving east on Morningside rd near the Fremont power plant, I spotted an westbound perishable with UP 8524-4111-7508 leading about 35 empty refers. As it went by me I also spotted a westbound mixed freight on the Omaha Sub. A quick u-turn was in order.

DPU 6757 passed the UP 4332 on the MCBNP.

Driving west on Morningside rd I spotted the eastbound train I had setup for earlier starting through town. UP 6510-6445 DPU 6757 had a NSPX coal load heading for Omaha and a run up the Sioux City sub to Minneapolis. I was able to catch the DPU passing a late MCBNP on the east side of Fremont. The tardy MCBNP had UP 4332-1976-8285 as power and was being held for the empty perishable.

With the back tracking done I headed back east out of town to Military Ave to follow the tracks over to the Elkhorn river.The overnight rain had turned this normally decent gravel road into a mess, ruts and soggy car tracks made for a fun drive. Gumbo really lets one know its time for new tires as I was spinning and sliding the whole time.

UP 6866 leads the MSSNP into Arlington.

No trains were spotted until Arlington where I encountered the MSSNP dropping down off of Arlington Hill on the east side of town. The MSSNP had the UP 6866-8139 DPU 6952 as power.

The next train I encountered was a westbound stack train between Arlington and Kennard. UP 8638-4759 DPU 7622 made good work of the climb up Arlington Hill. The train was mostly domestic containers with some maritime containers thrown in.

As I dropped down the hill on Hwy 30 into Kennard I spotted another westbound stack train with UP 7831-4526 DPU 5226-7524 as power. This train was made up of mostly maritime containers and may have been a Seattle bound train.

From Kennard to Council Bluffs I didn't encounter anymore trains which was unusual. At N. Council Bluffs the first coaler I had encountered in Fremont was holding at beanos for the MNPCH with UP 4346-8227-4975 to run around it.

While in Council Bluffs I was surprised to see that the CN/IC yard was empty. Saturday has been a day that the road train comes into CB but the road power was nowhere to be found. Scanner chatter did reveal that the CN Switch crew was out and over on the Omaha side.

Over in the UP Pool yard UP 536-511-512 were noted sitting in the middle of the yard. These units maybe the N. Omaha power as its unusual to see three GP38-2's together unless they are on this train. While checking these units out the NSPX train encountered at had pulled up to 9th street to wait for the two trains in front of it to head out of town. With nothing currently moving I headed over to get some gas and to check out the BNSF and IAIS.

The BNSF Island Park local was working at the S. Bartlett elevator putting its train of aboutr 5 cars together. Today's power was BNSF 9634-6797-3020 which was overkill for the amount of cars to be moved. The BNSF CB switcher is BNSF 8613 and she had about 25 cars tied on to her. These would be interchanged with the IAIS later in the evening.

The IAIS was quite. The CBBI was already made up and had two ES44AC's and a GP38-2 as power. With the opening of the new shop at Yocum the stored power has been slowly moving east. There was around 6-8 units still on the storage tracks though.

Before heading for home I headed back over to 9th Ave to catch an eastbound mixed freight. Power was UP 4104-8656-KCS 4615. Its unusual to see KCS power on the UP in this area so that was an interesting sight. The terminal yard master was giving the MCBDM permission to make a double over and to head out of town so I headed down to see what the power would be. A ratty GE was today's leader so I decided it was time to head for home.

South Central NE

It had been awhile since I really went out and did some exploring and while building a map of industrial locomotives I got the urge to get out and look for some industrial units close by. With my work schedule and always being on call every 3 weeks I don't have much free time but I had a spur of the moment idea to take the 9th off to explore.

I headed out the door a bit later than I had liked but was able to get to all the areas I wanted to before the day was over. Heading to Lincoln to head south for the first planned stop of Hallam, NE I made a detour over to Hwy 6 from I-80 to follow the BNSF into Havelock. \

Ashland was quite and I didn't see my first train until I was west of town about 3 miles. A westbound empty coaler was sitting at the cross overs between Ashland and Greenwood. Since it was just a couple of plain Jane ES44AC's for power I continued on west and was surprised to find a Habsco rail grinder in the house track at Greenwood. This train set has the two ex GE B30-7's as power units for the grinder cars and movement.

RMSX 1101 rail grinder at Greenwood NE

After a brief look around the train it was time to head westbound again. Next up was the MKCKWIL sitting in Waverly, NE and a westbound Maresk double stack stopped between Waverly and Havelock. I stopped to get shots of both because I typically do not get harassed while taking shots from Hwy 6.

MKCKWIL sitting on the main waiting for a new crew at Waverly, NE

BNSF 6712 leads a Maresk double stack sitting east of Havlock, NE

I caught the tail end of the "rush" hour traffic in Lincoln and just headed right on through town on Hwy 6 to Hwy 77 south. Driving over the BNSF yard I caught a glimpse of BNSF 9999 and a number of other units including some SD40-2 hump engines.

The first stop of was Hallam, NE at the NPPD power plant. NPPD has a GP38-2 as the switcher located at the power plant just north of town. This is also the end of the line for the old RI mainline north out of Fairbury NE. Unfortunately there was a coal train being unloaded and the unit was not visibly from the road. I'll have to check it out the next time I'm down in that area.

With Hallam being a bust I got back on Hwy 77 and headed for Beatrice, NE and the Alco that lives at the coop elevator. Relco 707 and SNCC 2004 are used to shuffle empty grain hoppers but today they were being serviced by a mobile Relco crew. SW7 SNCC 2004 was being worked on while I was there. Not sure what they were working on but the fireman side doors for the compressor where open and a guy was noted under the unit working near the air reservoir tanks.

SNCC 2004 and Relco 707 resting under a hazy dusty morning sky.

While finding my way down to the coop I stumbled across some rare surviving freight cars; B17/B24 aircraft wing cars. They are no longer on trucks but were fairly intact with the old Burlington Route herald still visible on one side of each of the cars. Both are sitting on cinder block foundations just east of the coop being used for sheds.

B17/B24 aircraft wind car used as a storage shed.

While two more have been incorporated into a warehouse at the Beatrice Scrap Shredder yard.

Beatrice Scrap Shredder warehouse.

Having found the first Alco of the day I took off for Plymouth NE for the next one on my mental list. RLCX 1051 an S-2 is assigned to the local coop and had just finished loading a grain train in the last day or two. The loads were sitting southwest of the coop waiting for the UP to come and drag them out of town.

My next stop was Jansen, NE. I wasn't really sure what would be found there as both Google Earth and Bing images of the area are of low quality. The images seem to show an Alco switcher on the north east side of the town but only a visual inspection would confirm this. Unfortunately the switcher was not to be found but a rather nice looking GP7 is used to shuffle around the grain cars. The thought of an Alco was nice but the sight of a GP7 in 2012 is also a nice one.

JLCX 101 resting in the mid morning sun in Jansen, NE

Having finished getting my shots and a frame number of the unit it was time to head down to Fairbury and to check out the town. On the agenda was to get a shot of the old RI division point depot/office which I was able to do, but I also tripped over a couple of other interesting items.Over on the UP main an old RI/CNW snowplow was sitting on a spur. This old RI plow was probably used in this area while working for the RI but in her painted CNW colors she looked out of place.

In the area between the RI depot and the road is a small park containing an ex RI gas electric and the ex CB&Q depot from Kesterson, NE. The gas electric is looking pretty rough and the old Q depot is in the grounds of the riding train that is east of the depot. 

ex CRIP gas electric stuff and mounted

ex CB&Q Kesterson NE depot

Fairbury was my turn around point though I wouldn't be going home the same direction I had came, so I continued to travel west to go east. After making the turn north on Hwy 81 at Hebron, NE I headed up to Carlton, NE to check out the Alco S-2 working at the elevator. 

The 'downtown" area of Carlton is south of Hwy 4 and I soon made my way from Hwy 4 down to the elevators only to be disappointed that the Alco was nowhere to be found. I did happen to notice that the new flood loader that had been built on the west side of town had a CN painted loco that needed to be checked out. I was able to drive up to the area where the unit was parked and got a semi distant shot of CGAX 6128. This unit appears to be an the ex IC 6128 but I could not get up close to check for frame numbers to confirm its heritage. The one item I noticed is the unit may have been deturboed and may now be an SD38-2.

CGAX 6128 at Carlton NE

After the side trip to Carlton I back tracked 6 miles to Hwy 81 for the next stop in Fairmont, NE. Before getting to Fairmont a stop in Geneva to grab a quick shot of the derelict ex GTW 0-8-0 that resides on the north side of town was in order. Its strange seeing this loco out in the open miles from active rail

Missing a lot of parts.

After this little diversion it was back on the road to Fairmont. I wanted to catch the GP10 that works the ethanol plant on the west side of Hwy 81 but was only able to catch a long distance glimpse. So I took off for the next objective; Manning Rail.

First unit I was able to get to was the Watco SW2 being prepped for interchange. Railserve was onsite installing alignment couplers and was about half way completed. A local stopped to talk to me and stated that they had to finish the job today so the unit can be moved to Birmingham, AL. Since it was already 2 pm I don't think they got it done in time.

WAMX 105 an SW1 repowered with a Cummins genset.

 After walking around and getting shots of the SW2, I walked over to its replacement unit. Manning Rail 4602 had been delivered in the last couple of weeks and was looking good in red and blue. Unfortunately the unit is positioned so that its a morning photo. Since I'm was about 2 hours from home I took the shots anyway.

Manning Rail 4602 at Fairmont, NE.

Since I had a 4 pm appointment back in Omaha it was time to leave. All in all it was a good trip even though two Alcos couldn't be found. 

UP Blair Sub Construction update 10/12/12

Only a short update as work has pretty much stopped on the sub.

The bridge east of Arlington is still being built. The pre-stressed concrete deck sections has been brought in and are positioned on each side of the creek. The headers are also staged to be positioned for the sections of the deck.

At Kennard the new switch which will be the other half of the cross overs is being installed. This is about 100-150 feet west of the Linn St crossing. Once this switch is installed the double track should be extended to the end of the old West Kennard switch. That is if the super foamers proclamation in August is correct.

On the Iowa side the only work observed was a MOW crew working on the cross over switches west of Allen Creek. The third main is also now connected to the main on both ends. New signals have also been installed protecting all three tracks eastbound just east of Italy Ave.

BNSF Sioux City Sub south end

I took a chance today and set out to follow a train or two on the Sioux City sub. My prior luck with this goal had been decidedly unlucky but with the up tick of traffic on the sub I figured my luck would change.

I headed over to Ashland, NE to try and find a northbound Sioux City sub train to follow. While passing over the Creston Sub on old Hwy 6 east of Ashland, I noticed a grain train holding the main. As I got closer to the wye from the Sioux City to Creston Sub the power came into view. Two faded and grubby warbonnet units where found leading the empty grain train. I typically don't give these units much time as the paint on them is way past its prime, but with two of them as the only power I was up for a chase.

BNSF 685 heads north up the east leg of the wye to the Sioux City sub from the Creston  sub. The Omaha sub will be crossed in the process.

While waiting for the grain train to start heading north the scanner was active with chatter between the Lincoln power desk and BNSF 7317. Seems the windshield had developed a crack and was getting worse and the crew wasn't too happy about it. Thinking this was a southbound train off the Sioux City sub I parked over by the car wash to get a shot of it coming off the Sioux City sub and of the grain train heading north. But after about 5 minutes the signal turned green and the Sioux City sub DS was giving a track warrant to BNSF 685 to proceed from CTC Ashland to the north switch at Elk siding. So the chase was on.

Heading north through Ashland my goal was to get to Wann Rd and ahead of the train. Turning off Hwy 66 at CR B I noticed that the train wasn't ahead of me nor even close. Unfortunately Wann Rd was on the wrong side of the sun for any shots so I headed north looking for photo spots. It should be noted that this area is flat and pretty featureless outside of a couple of bridges and an old elevator at Big Sandy.

Rolling north through the harvested fields.

Finally getting to the sunny side of the tracks north of Big Sandy I setup at CR J out in the middle of nowhere to get a shot of the train running across the harvested fields. Figuring this might be my last shot for awhile I headed back to Wann Rd to head back north. Even with waiting for the train to pass and heading about 4 miles out of the way to Yutan Rd I was still able to catch up with the train at Yutan (about 7 miles away from the shot location).

Since BNSF 685's track warrant was only good to the north switch at Elk I was anticipating a meet at Elk with a southbound. Going through Leshara and crossing over the main about a mile south of Elk I noticed a southbound waiting in the siding at Elk. I setup at CR T and CR 7 to get my shots of both trains. BNSF 685 was coming at me out of the sun and I decided to see what I could do with the shot.

Back lit through Leshara.

BNSF 685 rolled on through Elk and soon I heard the DS give it a track warrant to Pappa (Fremont, NE). Figuring that it would get stabbed at the UP crossing in Fremont and then have to wait for a southbound at Pappa, I waited for the southbound coal empty to pass before heading over to Hwy 77 and north to Fremont.

BNSF 5875 leads a empty DEEX coaler out of Elk siding.

As luck would have it the UP cooperated with the BNSF and BNSF 685 got to roll right on through town to Pappa. The anticipated meet at Pappa was with a southbound empty coaler that was already waiting for the grain train. BNSF 685 released the track warrant from Elk to Pappa and was given a new one from north switch Pappa to the south switch at Oakland, NE. Decision time, do I keep going north or do I follow the southbound? Well the need to get rid of 20 ounces of coffee and to get some food made the decision for me.

After a stop at Burger King I headed back down to the area of the UP/BNSF diamond to wait for the southbound. The UP wasn't cooperating this time as the ZSKGR was given the green to run through the diamonds but the southbound didn't wait long.

BNSF 8917 crosses the UP at Fremont, NE.

No sooner does the ZSKGR clear the diamond and I hear the southbound blowing for the crossings to the north of the diamond. A quick run over to N M st and W 2nd St to get the southbound crossing the UP. As the train comes into view I see its another empty coaler. Two coalers back to back are fairly unusual on the Sioux City Sub. As the coaler sneaks through Fremont I head south to CR W and head toward the Platte river to get a shot. CR W ends at the railroad crossing and becomes a private community with lots of signs letting you know you are not welcome.

Running along the Platte.

From CR W it was a quick run over to Elk and LeShara to get a shot of the train running through Leshara. Before heading over to Valley, NE and back into Fremont.

Rolling through Leshara, NE.

Back in Fremont I headed back up to Pappa to see if another southbound had rolled into town but only found the BNSF Fremont switcher heading back into town after switching the industries on the north end of Fremont.

BNSF 2809 rolls through Pappa

BNSF 2809 ended my day on the BNSF but not my day of railfaning.

Blair Sub Construction September Update

On Friday 21 Sept 2012 I explored the Blair Sub construction progress to see what was actually going on. Earlier in the month one of the local super foamers reported that all work was going to stop on this project, a rumor I could not find any confirmation of when I inquired on the internet. As I did the previous month I started out on the west end of the sub and headed east. The west end is were the most activity is currently occurring.

Arlington, NE
Contractors were actively driving piles for the new bridge over the creek on the east side of Arlington, west of CR P11. The sub grade work is completed through Arlington to the S 6th St crossing. No work has been started west from this crossing toward East Fremont.

Pile drivers and cranes at the new bridge installation in Arlington, NE.

Heading east from the CR P11 crossing the grade work is completed all the way to the west end of the old Kennard Siding.

CR P15 Arlington Hill
The short section of new ROW that was unfinished last month is now completed. A new drainage culvert was installed on the north side of the ROW under the road to allow run off from the hill to drain away from the new ROW.

Looking west the new ROW will cross the existing ROW and  be on the south side .

On the east side of the crossing the new ROW has been completed up to the crossing control box for the current main. The new crossing control box is located to the north (left in the pic) of the existing control box. The bases for the new crossing gates have been installed and the electrical work has also been completed from the control box to the gates.

Looking east at CR P15 the new alignment stops at the existing crossing control box.

CR P15 to Allen Creek
With the ROW construction nearly completed there is very little activity to be found from Arlington, NE to Missouri Valley, IA. This same lull in activities occurred with the first section of the double track over Blair Hill.

Contractors were noted adding rolls of soil stabilizers along the cuts on the east side of Arlington Hill. At the CR 121 crossing a set of new metal culverts have been positioned along with rip rap for installation in the area.

At the west end of the old Kennard siding, the contractor has completed the concrete wall on the south side of the Hwy 30 over crossing shoring this up for the new second main. The stagging area just south of the West Kennard switch has had a number of pre-stressed concrete bridge decks and metal pilings for a new bridge. These components maybe used in the replacement of the pile bridge on the main at this location.

Between Kennard and the Missouri River bridge no activity was noted.

When in Blair, NE be sure and stop by Fernadoe's and give the super foamer dish washer a shout out. It will put a smile on his face. 

On the Iowa side of the Blair Sub it appears that most work has stopped from the Missouri River bridge incline to the new junction on the east side of California Jct., IA. The ROW is completed but there has been no work on the installation of new crossing gate bases or electrical to connect those crossing bases to the control boxes.

The one bit of activity that was observed on the Iowa side was a track game working on connecting the third main to the existing main east of the Italy Ave crossing. The new main has also been connected to the existing main with the cross over that was just east of Italy Ave. Between Allen Creek and Italy Ave there is now a set of cross overs allowing movement between the two mains.

Until the next report.

Some accidental railfaning

With a very busy work schedule it seems that all of my railfaning adventures for the last year or so have been accidental. Friday and Saturday were two of those accidental occasions. The plan Friday was to get the Jeep worked on so I took a day of PTO to get it into the shop. To my surprise the work was done in an hour and a half. Not as long as I had anticipated but long enough to check out this Jeep on the dealer lot. Might make a good rig if it wasn't orange and $40k.

JK8 on the dealer lot

Nine AM and the rest of the day off, so what to do? I really had no plans so I headed toward Fremont, NE but first stopped at Elkhorn, NE to investigate where the old UP depot had been moved too. After being moved it had been made into a house and after looking over the only possible house it might be, I decided to not take any photos as it had been modified beyond recognition.

The first train of the day was found in Elkhorn. A loaded WEPX coaler that was stopped just to the west of the Hwy 31 over crossing. Strange place to be stopped but later in the day I would see why. Power was UP 5888-7318-DPU 5608.

East of Valley, NE an eastbound CWEX coal load was stopped on the main. UP 5615-6294-DPU 7291was its power. In Valley, NE the UP has a long string of fallen flag covered hoppers parked on the north siding. Western Pacific, Mopac, CNW, SP, SSW and old paint UP hoppers can be found in this string. There is even a SP ACF that is free of graffiti, which anymore is a rare find. This years poor harvest will cause these to become a common sight as grain loads will be way down from previous years. Unfortunately I missed the Lincoln turn as there was no power to be found in town.

Mercer, NE had the inbound MCOCB holding at the signal with UP 4890-4842 as the power. Though these two units are less than 50 numbers apart, they are in different schemes. 4890 lacks the flag and instead has Union Pacific on the side. Given the deplorable condition of the flags on most units five years or older, I like the non-flagged SD70M's with the flared radiators.

Fremont, NE was fairly quite. An eastbound wind turbine train was spotted headed up the Blair sub. No blades were noted just the turbines.I figured I'd be able to catch this train later so wasn't concerned about missing it. Unfortunately I never did catch it later.

Local activity was pretty quite. The BNSF road switcher was nowhere to be found and the UP switcher was parked near the office. When crossing the UP main at N. Pierce St an eastbound UP was seen in the distance approaching town. This train would need a new crew and there would be plenty of opportunity to see if it will take the Blair or Omaha subs, so it was off to check out Poppa siding on the BNSF. The BNSF holds trains at Poppa while waiting for time to cross the UP diamonds. As usual Poppa was not a disappointment.

Lined up at Poppa.

On the siding was a northbound empty grainer while on the main was a southbound ballast train full of ballast from the Dakota Iowa out of Dell Rapids, SD. BNSF 5256-7046 would take this grainer up to Sioux City while BNSF 9247 was the rear dpu on the ballast train. I wasn't able to get in position to see the head end power on the ballast train. On the Frontier Grain Coop lead the BNSF had parked the Fremont switcher. BNSF 2702 along with a tank car had the lead all to themselves.

Heading out of Fremont on Morningside rd, I "found" that eastbound UP train. It turned out to be a empty grain train with UP 8520-8205-DPU 5504 as power. As I neared the head end three toots signaled the train was restarting its journey east. A quick u-turn and a run over to the s-curve west of CR 15 to get a shot before this section is replaced by the new alignment on the west side of Arlington Hill.

Twisting though the s-curve.

Checking out the work being done on the Blair Sub I noticed that the signals were light up for a westbound. I setup for a shot but after about 20 minutes of waiting I decided to move east to see if I'd catch it over by Kennard. Sitting too long in one location tends to attract the wrong attention anymore even out in the country. As I dropped down the hill toward the Hwy 30 over crossing on the south side of the old Kennard siding, I spotted the westbound I had been waiting for. Unable to get into position to get a shot, I grabbed a backlight going away of the MCHNP with UP 5881-4105-DPU 8232.

West out of Kennard.

This was the last train I saw on the Blair sub and the last one until I got to Council Bluffs, IA. Even the scanner chatter was light until Missouri Valley, IA. DS20 was heard asking where the MSXCB was to position it off the Sioux City sub for a short jog across the Blair sub and then down the Omaha sub. The SX was head sating it was just north of Modale, IA. DS20 then gave instructions to a westbound to slow down a little to allow the SX time to make the transition from the Sioux City sub to the Blair sub and then the new double track west of Mo Valley. Though this set of moves sounded interesting I decided to head on to Council Bluffs and then home.

Coming into Council Bluffs I spotted a train holding at Beanos. UP 3940-3877-8144 were leading an eastbound freight, while the coaler that was stopped in Elkhorn 3 hours earlier passed on the right.  Getting further into town I noticed that the old CNW yard was fairly empty with the day switch crew working the lead on the south end near the Heritage shop buildings. Crossing the main at Ave B, I noticed a UP MOW crew working on the cross overs south of N. 11th Ave. This explained why the trains were backed up west of Omaha and why there was no action on the Omaha sub north of CB.

Over on the IC/CN had the typical stored cars and no power to be seen. Fridays are a day that the local does not come into Council Bluffs and the local switch crew had the North Omaha transfer over on the NE side.

On the old Burlington lead into the UP pool yard, the UP had the power parked from a bean train that had been run down the BNSF Council Bluffs sub to the Bungee bean plant. UP 6954-3498-DPU-6376 had been the power for this train and where waiting for it to be unloaded before heading back down to pick up the empties. UP 3498 was the first SD90MAC that I have seen post renumbering.

One of the rare AC6000CW's to have worn a set of wings on the nose.

Before a quick run over to the BNSF yard another eastbound coaler with UP 6881-5715-DPU-6061 passed by on the main. Parked in the BNSF yard where two KCS belles that had brought in an empty grain train to be loaded at the south house Bartlett elevator. KCS 4110-4129 brought in 72 empties for load out.

Belle power laying over.

Since I had some busy work to accomplish it was time to head back home but only after stopping to get shots of the two NS units parked on the elevator tracks in the UP yard. UP 5826-NS 8898-NS 9545 were positioned to be the power for the MCBDM later in the afternoon.

Saturdays accidental railfaning occurred while heading home after the Nebraska game. West of Adams St in Lincoln an inbound grain train was being tied down on the main. Power was HLCX 6241-BNSF 4546, the HLCX was an unusual sight as it is rare to see lease power on the BNSF. The Havelock switcher was spotted was tied down near the yard office with the BNSF 3171-2778 as  power. Further east an empty coaler was tied down east of N 98th st. Power was BNSF 9249-5834-DPU 9946.

The drive along Hwy 6 didn't reveal any more trains until Ashland, NE. Looking down into the yard from Hwy 6, two loaded  ballast trains where spotted. On that note my accidental railfaning ended.

An 844 Sunday

The decision to go out and catch the 844 on Sunday was just one of those spur of the moment wild hair type of decisions. After a lazy Sunday morning I was checking out the various railfan sources and stumbled on the realization that the 844 was heading back to Council Bluffs that afternoon. She was scheduled to have a servicing stop at Dunlap, IA at 1515, so the girlfriend and I made the decision to try and head out there to meet up and follow her back to CB.

Getting out the door around 1415, I thought it would be cutting it close to run the 50+ miles from my house in Bellevue to Dunlap but my concern wasn't needed. A check of the UP Steam twitter feed and the UP GPS tracking map showed that she was pretty far behind schedule and was still east of Carroll, IA when I arrived in Missouri Valley, IA. So with that knowledge (smart phones are nice for this type of tracking) I set out to find some spots to get a shot or two.

The back roads west of Woodbine, IA were scouted but I soon rejected the area as the main gravel road was pretty loose and wouldn't have been good to use as a chase road. The road condition and the spotting of BNSFrailfan - aka Allen Love, Jr. trespassing on the CN bridge over the UP convinced me to head further east with the Arion Ia area as a potential spot to setup. I wasn't in the mood for a UP popo encounter.

Checking the UP GPS tracking map showed that 844 was stopped near Carroll IA so I continued to head east until Denison, IA. I was thinking of going even further east but decided to stop and setup near the old CNW depot. After about 20-30 minutes of waiting, 844's whistle could be heard approaching from the east but ominously so could a air horn coming from the west. When I setup I was concerned about getting stuck on the wrong side if an eastbound came through and this thought kept getting louder as the steam whistle and the air horn keep getting closer to me. Well luck was on my side as 844 came into view before the eastbound did.

I packed up and headed west out of Denison to eventually catch up with the 844 as she made the servicing stop in Dunlap. By Arion I had caught the pace crowd who had Hwy 30 all gummed up while they paced the steamer. I absolutely hate these people especially on 2 lane roads that have impatient local drivers and foamers all mixed together. Its only a sneeze away from a big chain reaction wreck.

I was able to pass the line east of Dow City and get ahead of the chasers to setup at the Boyer River crossing west of Dunlap. I was the second person there and setup on the north side of the tracks to hopefully prevent getting blocked by another eastbound. In the 20 or so minutes I was waiting a couple of others showed up including a woman who was determined to stand on or near the tracks with her back pointed toward eastbound traffic. I was convinced she would be the next Darwin award winner as no matter what, she was going to get that shot where she wanted to stand.

844 got the highball at 1730 and the track and time was released allowing eastbounds to proceed which meant there was a good possibility of a meet at the bridge. Unfortunately this did occur and blocked a couple of people who had setup on the south side of the tracks.

After the stack train passed, I packed up and headed west to see if I could get one more setup for the day. The bridge construction on Hwy 30 east of Woodbine put an end to that though as all westbound traffic has to hold for a green signal to cross the single lane bridge. We were able to follow her into Missouri Valley and  was stopped at the Loveland IA crossing by the train before heading for home.

All in all a nice way to spend an Sunday afternoon.

August Happenings

August was a month to forget with the loss of a close friend and a work schedule that was less than conductive to a good life/work balance. Even with these challenges I was able to get out in the local area and capture some action.

With the month almost half over I was able to get in the first outing of the month. The late afternoon is a good time to catch the MCBDM out of Council Bluffs and its sometimes interesting power. The 14th brought some old friends in the form of two old Sierra dupes. These units followed me from California to be placed in the pool out of North Platte. Showing the scars of operating in the tunnels of Donner Pass, the flags have long ago faded into the soot and oil covering they wore for the entire time they worked the pass.

UP 5577 & 5564 head north out of Beno's along a field that was 10+ feet under water this time last year.

The MNPCCB or as the  yard master likes to call it the double B is a late afternoon arrival into the Council Bluffs terminal area.The double B is actually two complete trains that runs into CB as one long monster (typically 180+ cars) from North Platte. From this train the MCBVP and MCBSS trains are created when the double B is split up in the old CNW north yard.

UP 3958 & 6580 pause on the Big Lake under crossing in  CB as the MNPCBB is broken up into its two trains.

Last years flooding and the wash out of the CN/IC line into Council Bluffs changed the schedule and make up of the three times a week CB local when the line was restored last winter. Traffic appears to have recovered but the trains are now handled by single hp units were they used to be two units.

The North Omaha CN/IC switch job and interchange with the BNSF and UP still generates a fair amount of traffic The job was pushing over 30 cars down the UP main to the CN/IC connector switch on the 14th.

IC 1025 is pushing hard on a large interchange cut.

The UP Ak-Sar-Ben special is a August fixture and this year the Union Pacific used the E-units to power this train. On the 16th the units were run light over to Heritage Park to be positioned on the next days special.

Slowly heading down the switch off the main into Heritage Park.

I hadn't know about this movement, so I was surprised to see them round the curve heading to B0.0 for the run across town to the old CNW yard.

On the 21st I discovered that the IC SD70 had been replaced by the CN 2108. This old CNW C40 is in eye shot of the old GE shop at the CB CNW roundhouse where she and her sisters were maintained.

Old is new on the CN.

Having just pushed her interchange cars into the old IC yard the crew is adding them to the evening outbound train.

Typically the QNPSK is a late morning, early afternoon train but today she must have encountered delays west of Council Bluffs.

UP 5120 leads two CSX units at Beno's

UP 5120 provides needed ATS/CSS controls for the two CSX units as they leave the congested CB/Omaha terminal area.

With Berkshire Hathaway owning both Mid America and the BNSF the sight of an empty UP coaler from the CBEC complex may be rare in a couple of years. The contracts are currently being negotiated for haulage of the coal to the various Mid American plants and it will be interesting to see if its keep in the family of continues to be hauled by the competition.

UP 7251 leads the empty Mid America coaler past the CRI&P depot in Council Bluffs, IA.

The BNSF interchange train between the BNSF Gibson Omaha yard and the UP CB yard often occurs late in the afternoon and typically uses what ever is available in the yard to drag it over to the UP.

The interchange run on the 28th used the Bayard turn power in the form of two warbonnet B40-8W's and a GP 39-2. BNSF 517 is one of the best looking warbonnets I've seen in a very long time. An interesting note is the side says BNSF while the cigar ban on the nose says Santa Fe.

Backing through the yard the BNSF interchange train is heading up track 9 the yard to pick up its cars from the UP.

This train ended my month of observations

August Blair Sub Update

After a really busy month I was able to get out and explore what has taken place along the sub. Since most work appears to be concentrated on the west end, I started this trip from the Fremont side of the sub.

Fremont to Arlington
From the current end of double track at East Fremont to S 8th St in Arlington there has been no work started. With the Elkhorn River being down to a trickle with this summers drought I had anticipated crews starting work on the new Elkhorn bridge. Since the new alignment is to run through a couple of fields it looks like the UP may not start this segment until they are harvested.

Arlington to Kennard
On my last trip through Arlington crews had started to begin the grading of the new row. In the last month they have completed this and laid down the sub base fines that the new track will be installed on.

North side of row at S 8th St Arlington, NE

Looking northeast up the new row toward the LPG tanks in Arlington, NE

The grading has been completed up to the S 8th St crossing on the southeast side of Arlington. The row will be located on the south side of the main where an old siding was once located.Somewhere near the grain elevator the row will be shifted to the south on a new alignment, It will be interesting to see if the LPG facility along the new alignment will be relocated. Any derailment on the new row would result in a direct hit of the tanks.

CR P11 was the end of the grading last month but since then the row has been completed and an access road created on the south side of the row heading east toward CR 15. West of P11 the UP contractors have brought in a crane to start the building of the bridge over the creek on the east side of Arlington.

Looking east from co rd P11. New row on the left access road on the right.

Looking west from P11 toward the creek and the crane that will build the new bridge.

From P11 to CR 15 the row is not accessible without trespassing on the new railroad access roads. Glimpses of the new row can be seen from Hwy 30 and from those glimpses it appears that the row is nearly completed.

CR 15 area is still being worked on and will be where a dramatic shift in the row will occur. The new alignment will be shifted to the north about 20 feet and the s-curve to the west eliminated.

Looking west from co rd 15 at new row.

There is a short section of new row between the road and were the existing track curves away from the new row that still needs to be worked on. Stakes are visible were grading work will occur along with some railroad equipment that will have to be relocated. On the east side of the co rd 15 crossing the new row has been completed up to about 30 feet from the area where the new crossing will be.

The row at the top of Arlington hill is completed. Stabilization work was in progress on the new drainage areas to prevent brown water run off. Looking east the row is completed with sub base fines having been laid down.

Looking east down Arlington Hill.

The interesting note from this location is the name the UP has printed on the signal box indicating the crossing is named New Road.

Between New Road and CR 19 the row appears to be completed and ready for track installation. At the CR 19 crossing a tandem dump truck was observed dumping fines to be used when the road is cut and the row. The truck was working with a grader to distribute the fines on both sides of the crossing.

One of the benefits of this work is CR 19 has been rebuilt and widened from Hwy 30 to the UP crossing to allow these heavy gravel trucks a road capable of supporting there weight and allow them to pass each other.

East of CR 19 crews where noted working on the new bridge that is about half way between CR 19 and CR 21. No other work was noted between these two crossing except for a crew mowing the weeds along the row.

At the Hwy 30 over crossing at west Kennard a crew was observed installing a new concrete retaining wall to shore up the embankment under Hwy 30. This embankment was cut back to allow the new row to fit under the over crossing. The storage area at west Kennard also had large sections of a concrete bridge deck stacked up for future installation. I do not know if these are the sections for the new Elkhorn bridge of the new Missouri bridge.

From west Kennard siding to the location of the old east Kennard siding switch no work was observed. Since my last time at east Kennard there has been a section of track installed on the new/rebuilt row. I'm not sure how far west this section is installed as I didn't explore the area around the old CR 32 crossing.

New section of track installed at old east Kennard.

Kennard to Blair
This area has been completed and been in use since earlier this year.

Blair to Missouri Valley
From CP Duffy to about 1 mile east of the Missouri River bridge no work was been done. I also did not note any survey stakes or utility line relocation markings in this area. This will probably be the last section to be worked on as the new row will involve a lot of work within the city limits of Blair.

About a mile east of the Missouri River bridge the new fill and row work is in place from California Jct to this point. Crossing over the river on the Hwy 30 bridge the new row can be seen briefly. Since it is being built on the north side of the existing row it is not a section that can easily be observed.

Significant progress has been done at the Corning ave crossing area. The new row appears to be completed and a new access road has also been installed. Crews have also installed a new fence along the south side of the row to separate the row from the existing fields.

Looking west at MP 338 at the new row and access road at Corning Ave.

At Austin Road the highway has been cut and asphalt placed in the section where the new crossing will be installed. There was a lot of activity will graders and gravel trucks laying fines for the new crossing in piles on either side of the crossing.

At California Jct, the area looks dramatically different. The old CNW search light signals are now completed gone with the new signals that control the jct to the Sioux City sub moved about 1/2 east of Fremont Ave. The only signals that are still in the area of the wye are from the Sioux City sub to the Blair Sub.

The last area to explore was the Italy Ave crossing. When approaching the Italy Ave signs where up indicating the road was closed. From a distance it could be seen that the UP was working on the crossing. Without not being able to directly see what was occurring I can only assume that crews where cutting in the crossing for the third main.

Until next report.