Part Five

"Good day, Sunshine"

Day 5 is another spectacular day as the song that John! Paul, George and Ringo use to sing about back in August 1966. A little bit warmer than yesterday with that wind still blowing at a good clip. 

Today is a day of easy driving. West to the towns of Brady, Maxwell and the city of North Platte. But before we leave Cozad, check out the overhead sign. 

As the sign says, Cozad claim-to-fame is that it lies right on the western 100th longitude. And also there is the old Union Pacific train station and next to it is a Union Pacific caboose. I'd love to have one of those on my Powerball funded estate with a 75 foot antenna tower next to it.

Up, the ultimate ham radio shack. Hey, I can dream!!

Somewhere between Cozad and Brady, I ran into a road construction crew.  Over the years that I have come out to Nebraska, many miles of US 30 have been rebuilt, sometimes from the ground up. Today, there were scattered groups, all doing one particular job and at the same time, within a half mile of each other steadily moving west. At the back was a group of stream rollers, flattening out brand new asphalt.

A quarter mile ahead, the next group was laying down the asphalt. Eighteen wheelers full of the stuff.

And then a quarter mile ahead of them, the sealing oil truck, the milling machine and the sweepers to pick up the excess bits.

All going along at a slow but steady walking pace.  Once the asphalt was rolled out enough, the next portion of US 30 was put back into service. Very efficient.

Then it was on to the town of Brady and the rusty brown walkway bridge. 

A nice place to walk upon and observe the triple track mainline. And the UP provided some entertainment: a train of empty cars heading west to Bailey Yard in North Platte.

And a loaded covered hopper grain train heading east.

As I was coming down the walkway, another railfan was heading up. His car was from Minnesota. Maybe a rental. Hope he gets some good shots. And a spot at Brady Get 'N' Go for some lunch. "Food, Gas, and Keeping the Faith".

Up next was the town of Maxwell where there use to be this great little general store with some damn fine sandwiches. Alas, when I came out here in 2014, the store was closed up. Still is. But those sandwiches were great. A salute to Maxwell:

And with some perfect timing, it was noontime and lunch was served. And right on the southeastern edge of North Platte Regional Airport is this small strip of concrete road. Back in; eat lunch; watch trains. 

After lunch, it was over to this king size erector set on the main line:

What you are looking at is a machine called Machine Vision located in Beck, Nebraska. This extremely sophisticated device uses lasers and cameras to scan and provide a three-dimensional model of each piece of train equipment for any defects. 

Check the article at Union Pacific's website at:

https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/research-development-8-9-2016.htm#lasers-cameras

Anyway, time to call it a night. More on today's activities on Thursday. Keeping my fingers crossed for more of this beautiful weather.

I'm Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In North Platte, Nebraska.