Weekend in Grand Island, NE

Winter just seems to want to stick around and the weekend of March 23rd and 24th was a good example of that. The girlfriend and I headed over to Grand Island, NE for the state Womens Bowling tournament that she was bowling in and for me to spend a couple of hours or so watching trains.

We left the Omaha area in bright sunshine but a storm was getting its act together out west. The brunt of this early spring snow storm was supposed to impact Kansas with a predicted 2-4 inched in the Grand Island area. Thankfully this never occurred but we did get a chance to drive on some icy roads on Sunday morning.

Saturday March 23rd
I left the girlfriend at the Bowling center around noon and had about 3 hours to get out and explore. The weather was pretty bad at this time with really dark skies with light snow and rain. Not a good scenario or having too much fun but I made the most of it.

The first train I encountered was the ZG2SC as it passed through the yard and headed west. Figuring I would not be able to get ahead of it I detoured over to N Oak and E Front St to see what was going on. Under the BNSF overcrossing the Nebraska Central was doing some work on the west end of the Grand Island yard. NCRC 8118-8123 were switching out a box car that they eventually shoved down into the area of the yard that they park their power at. After watching them do this and taking a look at the signals and hearing no scanner traffic, I made an impulse decision to head west and see how far I could get before having to turn around.

While crossing over the UP mainline on the west side of Grand Island, I noticed that the z train was still in the area and moving west really slow.

UP 7990 and the ZG2SC from Hwy 30.

Not sure why this high priority train was basically crawling along at 45 mph but I figured it was a good opportunity to get some foul weather moody pacing shots. I was able to catch up to it between Alda and Wood River, NE and fired off a couple of shots that I knew would not be perfect but was hoping they would be salvageable. Power for the ZG2SC was UP 7990-7201-4376-4888-4055.

At Gibbon, NE an empty coaler was holding on the Marysville line for the westbound Z train and a loaded coaler was slowly rolling toward the jct. UP 6747-6621 DPU 6608 had the eastbound coal load while UP 5921-7121 DPU 7236 held on the Marysville line with the empties..

UP 6747 leads a coal load west of Gibbon, NE.

Having made some good time to Gibbon, I continued over to Kearney, NE to see if I could catch the ex BRC GP7 at the Peavey elevator. As my luck has been with this unit it was locked up in the elevator load shed. A drive by the UP yard did revel the UP 504-823 that are the local switchers based in Kearney. With just over a hour to get back to the bowling center, I headed back into Grand Island with only one more train seen for the day. The Grand Island to North Platte local was seen at Alda with UP 1645-1641-1593 and about 30 cars in tow. This train has been powered by three SD40-2's and SD40N's for the last 3 years or so and reminds me of the days when I would sit along side the tracks in Wood River watching the UP run trains like street cars.

Sunday March 24th
We woke up to some nice clear skies but a brutal north wind around 30 mph. A quick morning rush to get the gf to the bowling center by 0730 was needed before any train watching could occur and this allowed the sun to get a bit higher in the sky.

I was able to get about 3.5 hours of train watching in before heading back to the Omaha area. Since I was also out taking pictures of the old buildings and signs that are still around, I did miss a few trains during that time.

0740 - Westbound UP stack train
UP 8710-7613 DPU 7431

A drive around the yard to check out the local power and various MOW train power sets.
Switcher set - 518-508
MOW train - 4069-4658
Loaded grain train 6313-6398-7920
MOW train - 5184-9640
MOW train - 8248-5631
Nebraska Central - 8118-8123 and a set of two additional SD40-2's

Nebraska Central SD40-2's 8118-8123

After getting pics of the Nebraska Central units I took off to find some old and obscure items in downtown Grand Island. During this time I missed a BNSF westbound stack train that was followed by a westbound freight. The UP sent a coal empty and an eastbound stack train thru also.

0905 - Eastbound UP stack train
UP 6850-6743-6052-5072 DPU 6713

With the downturn in coal loadings formerly coal train only power is starting to become common on these higher priority trains.

UP 6850 leads a eastbound stacker into Grand Island.

0920 - BNSF Coal empties
BNSF 6340-6054 DPU 5856

BNSF 5856 passes over the UP QNPEL.

0922 - UP QNPEL eastbound
UP 8498-7736

0935 - UP ZSKGR westbound
UP 6451-6470-7097

UP 6451 leads the empty salad shooter out of Grand Island, NE.

0945 - BNSF Coal load
Missed the single headend unit but got the 6221 DPU

1009 - BNSF Coal load
BNSF 9272-5897 DPU 9835

BNSF 9272 leads a coal load south over the UP mainline.

1011 - UP Mid America coal empties
UP 5700-7195 DPU 7279

1019 - UP loaded grain train westbound.
UP 7920-6398-6313

Power had run around the train and departed westbound with the loaded train from earlier. While getting in position to photograph this train the BNSF sent a coal load over the departing train.

UP 7920 departing Grand Island with a loaded grain train as a BNSF coal load passes over head.

1050 -UP  ZG2SE westbound.
UP 8477-7607-7806-8778-8576

1052 - BNSF coal empties
BNSF 9277-9938 DPU 5729

1111 - BNSF eastbound freight
BNSF 4325-4169 DPU 6763

BNSF 4325 leads a southbound freight through Grand Island, NE

After this last train passed through it was time to meet the gf , have some lunch and head back to Omaha.