October 2 Railfanning

Sunday provided me an opportunity to enjoy some beautiful cloud free fall skies. With light winds and the nearly perfect sky, I was able to record some video which is something that can be pretty difficult to do with the wind in Nebraska.

The first catch of the day in the area I planned on fanning was an empty MidAmerica coaler just west of Lincoln, NE.

BNSF 6021 & 6096

I followed this train up to the bridge west of Pleasant Dale, NE to try to catch it coming through the widened cut the BNSF created for the second main train. Unfortunately, it had an advantage with the shorter route and beat me there.

After a short wait, the signal at CP 14.6 displayed a red over yellow and then a red over flashing yellow followed by a green. Drifting down grade an empty Bunge bean train rounded the curve to the west of the bridge and took the diverging clear for main two.

BNSF 3826 & 7420

Once this train cleared, the signal at CP14.6 went red over yellow and stayed that way for about 10 minutes. Since I haven't heard any horns across the valley, I headed west to Milford. Once at Milford I setup to get a shot of the anticipated eastbound on the slight grade out of the Blue River valley. Within about 5 minutes horns could be heard coming from the north side of Miford along with a distinctive EMD 2 stroke sound. Soon BNSF 9246 lead an Alabama bound coal load up the grade.

BNSF 9246 & 6124

BNSF 5857

While in Milford a quick stop at the local Casey's for a slice of pizza was in order. While eating another eastbound was heard blowing for the crossing north of Milford. Shortly a TU Utilities coal train approached and I was able to capture it rounding the curve.

After this train passed, I headed back to the bridge for some more photos and videos. Since it was after noon the farmers had returned from church and were out in the fields cutting their crops and stirring up dust as the winds had started to pick up. With that in mind, I decided to stay for the westbound that was holding at CP 14.6 but the BNSF had a bunch of eastbounds to get in before it would finally get a green.

First up was another loaded MidAmerica coaler. BNSF 6350 lead another ES and another was the DPU making an all GE consist.

BNSF 6350

Following the MAXX coaler was a Kansas Power and Light coal load with the BNSF 6209-5639 and DPU 8546. Once it crawled into the clear at CP 14.6 the westbound was given a green to head out. As the train came into view the green sheen of  the Boeing B737-8xx's could be seen. This tipped me off that the HKCKLAU-01 was about to pass my spot. 

BNSF 7686

After this train passed, I packed up my stuff and headed for the car. I decided to check out the signal one last time just in case and sure enough one more train was in store for me followed by another.

First up was the first train I recorded earlier in the morning. BNSF 9109-5775 and DPU 6057 with a GGPX coal empty was first seen on the east side of Waverly, NE holding for an opening in Hobson yard. Four hours later it had pasted trough the yard and was about 40 miles further west.

BNSF 9109

Once the BNSF 9109 passed it was followed by the last train of the day for me. BNSF 6404-NS 1086 with DPU 5821 rolled an empty JHMX coal west. After watching this roll by I headed for home. Not a bad day for about 4.5 hours of quiet. 

On a quest to find the NS 4002 and 4004

Our original plan was to get photos of these units around the local area, but the weather and updates on their status had us traveling south to get them in some sunlight.

We headed south out of the Omaha area, getting off the interstate at Mound City, MO to follow the BNSF tracks via the back roads. While making a quick stop in Mound City, we heard a northbound over on the Napier Sub and were hoping it wasn't the NS units running ahead of time. My son checked Facebook and found that the crew was called for 1100. Since it was 0900 we decided to head south until we found them.

At Napier Jct, an empty grain train was being held before continuing north up the Napier sub. The power looked like every other GE so we skipped going up to the headend for any pictures and headed south on Hwy 111 to Forest City. From there is was onto County Rd T to Forbes, MO.

North of Forbes, MO we noticed that the signals were lined for a southbound, so we pulled into Forbes and waited about 10 minutes before a southbound RWSX loaded coaler showed up. BNSF 8990-6394 with DPU's 9649-9085 cleared the only crossing in town within a couple of minutes.

As we paced the 8990 south we soon encountered a traffic jam around Rushville, MO. A truck towing a trailer with a Suburban on it, blew a front tire going into the ditch and hitting the rails. To my untrained eye it didn't appear to cause too much damage to the track, but the DS had to have a track inspector out to verify all was good.

The curious part of this traffic jam was at that a southbound TXUX loaded coaler was in the siding while a northbound mixed freight was holding the main. BNSF 5387-4535 was the power on the freight while BNSF 9270-6014 and DPU 6255 had the TXUX loads in hand.

A bit further down the road we noticed a headlight coming around a curve, which belonged to a northbound KCP&L empty with BNSF 9144 and DPU 9258 as power. Once they came to a stop BNSF 9270 got a green signal to continue south.

We encountered our next train at Amour siding where a northbound freight was being held. Power was BNSF 6235-6207-54181-9658. There was also a KCPL loaded coaler on the ballon track running through the dumper at the Iatan Power Plant. From here we headed back up into the hills away from the tracks until we crossed under Hwy 92 about 2 miles north of the north end of Leavenwoth siding. Sitting at the north end waiting for the BNSF 9270 south was a TXUX empty coaler with BNSF 9280-6082 on the headend. I could not get the number of the DPU on this train.

About half way down the siding (which is 17550' long) we set up for a shot of the 9270 passing the northbound in the siding.

Our next encounter was near MP 11.8 where we encountered the BNSF 9257-9838 on a loaded RWSX coaler holding at the end of double track. Having not encountered the NS duo and needing gas we headed on down to N. Kansas City to take a peek at Murray yard. The connector from Hwy 9 to Hwy 169 was closed so we ended up taking the roads down along the east side of the yard. We saw lots of faded/dirty/stored C44-9Ws, SD70MACs, a few AC44C4s in various BNSF paint schemes stuffed into tracks along the east side of the yard. After figuring out how to get over to Hwy 169 we were able to drive north along the west side of the yard and finally spotted the duo at the north end of Murray yard.

Not able to get any photos of the units, we decided on lunch and a run over to the NS yard as the IT heritage unit and the Veterans unit were reported to be in town. A drive down along the NS yard didn't reveal either unit, but we did manage to catch a parked auto rack train.

We took another run around the Murray yard to see if a crew may have been brought out to get on the train and found it in the same spot and state. Heading back up to Parkville, MO to position ourselves to get some photos when it does leave, my son looked up the latest information for the train at the various social media sites and read that the crew was called for 1600. Since it was 1430 and we had a 2.5 hour drive home combined with a line of storms coming in we reluctantly headed north.

Retracing our route, we encountered our first train just north of Parkville. Seems the crew on the BNSF 9257, which we had seen earlier died on the single track and had the main plugged. Seeing this we assumed that there wouldn't be any northbound movements on our way back. This was soon proven wrong as we encountered a northbound empty DDG train at Sadler. Moving at track speed we had a bit of a run to catch up to the head end which had BNSF 4556-6605 as the power. While trying to get ahead of it, I noticed a different train in the siding at Sadler from when we had headed south earlier in the morning.

The northbound grain train slowed to take the siding at Halls and my son wanted to get a shot of the train passing under the old Q cantilever signal at the south end of the siding. Once he was able to get his shots (mine were not the best) me headed north again and encountered a monster of a consist on a train holding at the end of double track. This mixed freight was lead by BNSF 6100-5742-5876-5166-652-6304-1106-8160-6902-7764, 10 units. Of course they were not all online and the last 5 looked as though the last 5 had recently been removed from storage.

Once the crew was relived and a new crew got on board this train would continue its journey to KC. We continued our journey north and soon encountered a loaded KCP&L coaler powered by BNSF 6263 and BNSF 8572 as the DPU quickly rolling up on the stopped freight stopped in front of it.

While we got our shots the crew fan ran around us and pulled up to a stopped mixed freight in the siding with BNSF 3800-4058-3012 as power.

With us still over a 100 miles from home and heavy rain just to the north we made a beeline for home and ended our day of railfanning.

Some finds in a yellow box

Moving has its disadvantages and advantages, especially went it comes to rediscovering lost or forgotten items. While going through a tote with a bunch of photo envelopes I came across a long, thin, yellow plastic slide box. This box contained a roll of 126 slides that were developed in 1986 but had been exposed during the late fall of 1981.

Now before the purist turn their noses up and scream ack, 126 Instamatic wtf, it should be told that as a 15 year old this was the best I had in a camera at the time. I wouldn't get my first 35mm until Christmas 1981 in the form of a Pentax K1000.

So why make a blog post on this find, it's not for the technical purity of the images, but rather for the bit of history that was captured. The late fall of 1981 was a dramatic change for the BN in my hometown. Since 1908 there has been a CB&Q/BN terminal in South Sioux City (Ferry), NE and a separate GN/BN terminal in Sioux City, IA separated by a weight restricted 1888 link pin truss bridge over the Missouri River. Starting in 1980 the BN started the process of replacing this bridge to allow for heavier trains on the Sioux City line. The opening of this bridge in Dec 1981 lead to the closing of the So Sioux City terminal and consolidation of operations into the old GN yard in Sioux City, IA.

Three clean SD40-2's lead the first revenue train across the new Missouri River bridge between So. Sioux City, NE and Sioux City, IA.

Laying over in the old Q Ferry, NE engine terminal, a set of bridge power waits for a northbound train to take across the weight restricted Missouri River bridge to Sioux City, IA.

Road power waits for their train to be dragged over from Sioux City, IA before taking over from the bridge power for the trip south.

At the old GN service track in Sioux City an unusual lashup of U33C and SD9 await service before taking a train north to Wilmar, MN. 

Some other images on this 20 shot roll include a couple of CNW and ICG shots included below for a look back. 

EMNPA power sits in the cold as their train is switched in the Sioux CIty, IA yard.

Having brought in their train earlier in the day these two GP10's rest outside the old IC engine house in Sioux City, IA. This engine house still exist as a machine shop for Cargill but the IC and GP10's are gone.

A couple of cold hours at Ashland, NE

Waking up to a dusting of snow Friday morning and some brilliant post storm sun light gave me an urge to get out and do some train watching. Unfortunately the clouds rolled back in by the time I got motivated and out the door.

First train I encountered was the ZCHCDEN as it rolled down from Gretna, NE toward Ashland on the Omaha Sub. I caught up with it before it got to Ashland but I wanted to get a shot of it further west and settled on a shot of it rolling east of Greenwood, NE. Unfortunutely, since its now stick season and the sky was gloomy a b&w conversion was needed to salvage the shot.

BNSF 7249 leads the ZCHCDEN between Greenwood and Ashland, NE.

BNSF 7249 heads west toward Greenwood, NE.

As I passed thru Ashland toward Greenwood, two coalers were stopped to give the Z train a clear block thru the area. A westbound empty coaler was holding at east wye in Ashland but was given a green on the heels of the Z train. It passed me as I headed back to Ashland and I wasn't able to get a shot of it.

BNSF 5968 heads east on the Creston Sub instead of the anticipated north on the Sioux City Sub.

An eastbound loaded coaler was holding at west Ashland and I thought it was going to head up the Sioux City sub and was caught off guard when it heading toward me instead of taking the hard left for Sioux City.

Soon after the eastbound passed a train was heard blowing for crossings and the chirp of a EOT was heard on the scanner. After a couple of minutes CREX 1312 rolled a westbound empty up to the signal on the Omaha sub. After about 15 mins she got a green and headed west again.

CREX 1312 leads a westbound empty coaler off the Omaha Sub.

Once the CREX lead train passed another empty coaler followed about 20 minutes later.

BNSF 9655 leads an empty coaler at east Asland.

After the BNSF 9655 passed a lull in the action developed. The Sioux City Sub DS was talking to a southbound and soon it was heard blowing for the crossings north of Ashland. One nice thing from the lull is it gave the sun a chance to make an appearance.

BNSF 9262 leads a ballast train off the Sioux City Sub.

Into nearly perfect sunlight BNSF 9262 lead a short ballast train across the Salt Creek bridge and then curved west toward west Ashland and the Creston Sub. Its passing gave me a chance to head for Casey's and some pizza.

BNSF 7335 leads a DEEX empty at west Ashland.

Crossing the bridge over the tracks reveled another westbound empty coaler so I headed over the west Ashland and waited for it to roll west. After a bit the BNSF 7335 and two C44-9W's slowly moved up to the signals. This is the first time since I've moved back to Nebraska where I've seen a coal train without AC units. Too bad it was still  roaches on the front.

BNSF 6243 leads a empty coaler at east wye Ashland.

After grabbing some shots of the units, I headed back over to east Ashland and caught a couple of more empty coalers before hearing the Sioux City Sub DS calling out the BNSF 2778 south. BNSF 2778 was leading the Fremont switch down to the yard in Ashland and soon was head blowing for the crossings north of Ashland. As soon as I was able to see the headlight thru the trees I headed out to get a shot of it curving off the Sioux City sub before calling it a day and heading for home.

BNSF 2778 leads the Fremont switch off the Sioux City Sub.

Foamers

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Last couple of Fridays at Ashland

Been awhile since I've made a post, a new job and generally being sick and tired of dealing with the likes of Allan Love Jr, Tim Vana, Brad Grefe and Brad Williams had deterred my enthusiasm for what should just be a hobby. During August I started to get more free time and decided to take advantage of the free time with some train watching in Ashland.

Traffic volume has changed in the last year through Ashland. The explosion of oil related traffic in North Dakota has forced the rerouting of some traffic from the old GN and NP lines down to the old Q across Iowa and Nebraska. Along with the increase in traffic on the Creston Sub, the Sioux City Sub has also experienced a traffic growth spurt.

August 30th
The morning started out with a detour to Fremont, NE to take care of some business before heading south to Ashland. After getting my tasks completed, I turned on the scanner and caught the BNSF Sioux Line dispatcher give track and time to a southbound that was in the siding at Elk. Knowing I wouldn't be able to get to Elk before it left I decided to see what was lurking around Fremont.

BNSF Fremont switcher:
BNSF 3035

BNSF Fremont local:
BNSF 2778-2667

UP Fremont yard job:
UP 501

With no other activity on the UP and the BNSF, I figured it was a good time to head for Ashland. Unfortunately there really isn't a direct route from Fremont to Ashland unless you take the dirt back roads. Not feeling like eating dust I headed down Hwy 77 to Hwy 92  for a short run over to Mead, NE and the connector road down to Hwy 66 to get to Ashland. About the time I got to Hwy 66 the chirp of an EOT started to be heard on the scanner. Rolling up to the sharp curve where Hwy 66, county road c and county road 4 intersect I caught a glimpse of a southbound on the Sioux City Sub. This was the same train that I had heard in Fremont getting T&T to Ashland. After pacing for a bit the train came to a stop at Abel to wait out traffic on the Creston Sub which gave me a heads up and time to get down to Ashland.

BNSF 9175 & 9119 lead a MARX empty coaler.

Crossing of the Creston Sub, I noticed there was a westbound holding at the west end of the old yard with another train tied down in the old yard. Instead of taking a left, I headed west and parked on the derelict main road into Ashland. Unfortunately the trees along the fill west of Ashland have had a growth spurt the last couple of years and a few are starting to be block the line of sight in certain spots. Holding the westbound main was an empty Mid America coaler from Council Bluffs, IA while an unknown local with two faded warbonnet B40-8W's for power was in the yard.

BNSF 9927 leads a MRWX coal load eastbound west of Ashland.

After a few minutes the empty MARX got under way with a RWSX empty right on its heels with BNSF 9190-8836 DPU's BNSF 9119-9208 as power. Within a couple of minutes of the RWSX clearing the fill an eastbound MRWX loaded coaler came into view with BNSF 9927-9695 for power. Once the loaded coaler cleared the west end of the Ashland yard the MWLMLIN rolled out onto main one from the Sioux City Sub with BNSF 9479-6920-7394 as the power. After the Wilmar cleared the west end of Ashland the scanner went silent so it was time to head over to the east side of Ashland.

BNSF 7121 leads the MGALDEN at East Wye Ashland.

Behind the Subway and car wash on the north side of Hwy 6 is the jct of the Creston Sub, Sioux City Sub and Omaha Sub. The paved road down to the tracks is wide enough for a couple of cars to park and not intrude onto the BNSF's land. It also allows for a good spot to setup for photos. So far this area has been a safe spot to train watch but there have been a number of photos posted by Allan Love Jr from inside the wye (BNSF land) and a month or so ago he and a gaggle of foamers were called in by crews for trespassing. If you visit this area don't be another Allan Love Jr and ruin it for others.

After a bit of a wait the westbound signals showed a high green and the chirping of an EOT was heard. Rounding the curve under Hwy 6 the MGALDEN came into view with BNSF 7121-4403 as the power. Next up was an empty RWSX coaler with BNSF 9682-5903 and DPU 9704 as power. Following closely was a UCEX empty with BNSF 8853-6212 DPU 9883 as power.

BNSF 9682 leads an RWSX coal empty.

After the UCEX empties the scanner went quite and the signals stayed red. Sitting in the heat with no action gets old quickly so I packed up and headed for Waverly to see what was parked waiting for a spot in the Lincoln yard. Sitting in the center siding was a MKCKLIN with BNSF 5711-NS 2714-NS 9226. Not sure how common NS power is on the Creston Sub but it was a nice surprise for me. After getting some shots I headed back to Ashland and as luck would have it I missed an eastbound coal load and a westbound ballast train

Settling back in at the wye at Ashland I would only encounter a couple of more trains before calling it a day. BNSF 6229-6042 DPU 6094 rolled a UCEX empty coaler down the Omaha Sub to be dog caught at Linoma. A loaded MARX coaler took the Creston Sub lead by BNSF 9182-6105 next.

BNSF 6229 leads an empty UCEX coaler down grade on the Omaha Sub. 

Listening to the scanner an interesting trend was noted. The Omaha sub typically is pretty quite but there were a number of westbound empty coalers getting dog catch crews. The dispatcher was routing trains with crews short on hours up the Omaha sub at Oreapolis, NE so that they wouldn't plug the main and sidings of the Creston Sub when they died on hours .

After 4 hours in 98 degree heat I called it a day.

September 6th
I had planned on getting out to Ashland before it got too hot but a phone call put a stop to that thought. The car dealer called me and let me know they had gotten a replacement title for my new car and since my paper tags expired on the 8th I had to make a detour to the county courthouse before any train watching. After about 25 minutes and writing a $2000 check for taxes and plates I was able to get back on track for Ashland.

BNSF 6083 leads a TGNX empty coaler at Ashland, NE.

 Soon after getting settled in at Ashland a TGNX empty coal came into view with BNSF 6083-8845 DPU's 9209-8806 as power. After the TGNX empties passed a eastbound loaded HPJX coaler rolled by with BNSF 5792-9103 DPU 5737. The scanner came to life with the BNSF Sioux Line dispatcher giving instructions to a southbound on the Sioux City sub. Even with this heads up I was caught by surprise when the BNSF 7468 with a loaded ETOH train rolled into view and onto the west leg of the wye. This was an interesting train as it was setup "backwards". BNSF 7468 lead but BNSF 1072-7611 were the DPU's.

The booze train off the Sioux City sub was stopped on the west side of Ashland due to T&T given to a MOW crew doing some work on the cross-overs. Figuring there would be some dead time I packed up and headed west on a search for some lunch. Heading west on Hwy 6, I encountered a northbound MLINWLM holding for the BNSF 7468 to clear the west leg of the wye to the Sioux City Sub. I didn't stop and get the unit numbers but the power was a BNSF C44-8W and a CSX SD70MAC. I figured they would still be there when I got back from my lunch run but the BNSF tricked me as the MOW crew finished up pretty quickly.

Just east of Greenwood, NE an eastbound vehicle train passed me with two BNSF C44-9W's as power. This is the first solid vehicle train I've seen on the Creston Sub since the floods of 2011 so I am not sure if this is a regular train or a reroute. At Waverly a long empty coaler with FURX and BNSF hoppers was sitting in the center siding. BNSF 6291-9519 DPU's 6001-6225 were the power for this monster.

Since I had ventured this far west I decided to go into Havelock and check out the Havelock switcher power and grab some food at Burger King. Power sitting at the yard office in Havelock was BNSF 2967-8707 which made the trip over worth while.

BNSF 6288 leads a UCEX empty coaler off the Omaha Sub.

Back in Ashland the parade of trains continued with BNSF 6288-5798 DPU 9340-9170 rolling a empty coaler with CITX hoppers off the Omaha Sub. After about 20 minutes BNSF 6125-5853 DPU 9746 rolled up to the east leg of the wye and held the main with a UCEX empty coaler. After about 15 minutes all the lights came on and two bleeps of the horn meant they were heading west again.

BNSF 9425 leads the MKINGAL past the BNSF 6125.

While the UCEX coaler was getting back under way the MLINGAL rolled through on main two with BNSF 9425-8971. Once the MLINGAL passed it was quite for awhile until an unusual train rolled in westbound. BNSF 8298-4946 NS-1064 lead a stack train of MOL sea containers (40' and 20'). I've never seen a solid train of MOL containers on the Creston Sub prior to this.

BNSF 8298 leads a westbound stack track.

After the stack train made its way thru the Sioux City Sub came alive with two southbounds. The first was a loaded grain train with BNSF 738-685-4392-4478 as power. Next up was a westbound GBRX coal empty with BNSF 9590-8764 DPU 9705 as power. Interesting this train went into emergency as it rolled off the west leg of the wye. I drove out to the west side of Ashland and saw that the train was still on the rails so I'm not sure why it went into emergency.

BNSF 5311 with track inspection cars.

While the crew was busy talking to the dispatcher BNSF 5311 rounded the curve under Hwy 6 westbound with two track inspection cars in tow. After it rolled by I called it a day and headed out for home. On the way to I-80 the last train of the day was encountered stopped along Hwy 6 with BNSF 9179-6326 leading an empty LNTX coaler.

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.