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.