We stayed overnight at a campsite at Sterling which had not much to recommend it. But
for excitement a hunter had found an interesting looking cylinder and brought it back in his pickup. It turned out to be a big artillery shell casing from between the wars complete with fuse. So we had the bomb squad, police and fire
brigade there most of the evening. I take folk to the most interesting places. |
The town had a small train on display. I think it was for kids and not a
real working train. |  |
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This on the other hand was a real working engine pushing 120 coal wagons
with two more locomotives on the front. This is the Union Pacific main line and that's
where we headed next. |
| It is harvest time and we
are not on an interstate so there are many harvesters on the move, albeit
slowly. |  |
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And houses. This was one of a pair making up a complete house which they
will put on a concrete base. This type of house is very common away from
the coasts. |
| We were headed for North
Platte which is the Union Pacific yard and maintenance depot. This is the
newly built Golden Spike Tower which looks out over the eight square mile
yard. |  |
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Two engines pull a coal train through the yard. Most trains stop but there
are 36 coal trains each way each day which pass straight through. |
| Each day this depot
services more engines than British Rail has! |  |
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Another non-stop train passing though with double stacked containers. Most
have Chinese names. |
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Three engines haul in a mixed train. This will be sorted here and each of
the wagons taken on to a different destination. |
| These are two oddities.
They are remotely controlled engines used for shunting within the yard. |  |
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More diesels wait for servicing - or maybe they have been serviced already.
Each unit costs around a million dollars and the newest ones are nearly two
million. |
| Clean and shiny and ready
to go - around 3000 horses. |  |
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A small shunting engine although some are used for local freight. There is
very little passenger traffic away from the east coast.. |
| The West Hump. Trains are
pushed up the hump and then each car is allowed to fall under gravity and is
switched to the siding appropriate for its destination. The retarders on the
down slope adjust the speed according to the weight and where they want the
car to stop. It is almost all automatic. |  |
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A train with five locomotives but we have seen up to eight. |
| A passenger car from the
days when such trains did run. Nowadays folk travel by car or aeroplane. The
train is just too slow. |  |
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Also seen from the tower was this corn maze. These are very popular in the
fall season. |
| Back on the open road and
more coal trains pass us as we continue east. |  |
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Maintenance of the track is a constant task and quite difficult to fit in on
such heavily used lines. So the machinery is very complex. |
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