Part Thirteen

“Everything Fall - Last Ride”

Day 13 starts the second half of my journey here in the Midwest. Temps were in the low to mid 70’s and as I went west, the clouds thickened up little by little but it just added to the flavor of the day. And you may be wondering about Last Ride? More on that later.

After refueling the Volvo, it was time to head west. Upon leaving Lincoln County from where North Platte is located and crossing into Keith County along US 30 West, we enter the Mountain Time Zone of which we will be a guest of until next Friday afternoon.

It was a slow day on the Union Pacific. Between North Platte and all the way to Julesburg, Colorado, I saw no train traffic. I did see a couple of Maintenance-of-Way machines roll eastbound and a few miles down the track, I saw what looked like backup lights on a truck. And the closer I got, I saw a Union Pacific Hi-Rail Car, like the one below:

A hi-rail car is actually a pickup truck, usually a Chevrolet, and it is fitted with railroad wheels that normally stow up next to the truck’s chassis when it is on the road. When the rails need inspection, the car will put on at the nearest railroad crossing, drop the front and rear wheelsets, and then all you do is accelerate and brake. The center of all of the tires fit the center of the rails with the gauge between the rails at 4 feet, 8 and one half inches. He was doing 55MPH and he had the westbound rails all to himself.

At about 10am MDT, I made it into the town of Julesburg, Colorado and went directly to Julesburg Family Market. They make these delicious and filling grinders all wrapped up in red checkerboard deli paper and placed in a zip lock bag. That went into the trunk for later. I then went to my usual train-watching spot but come to find out someone put a grain trailer in my view. But, no matter, my camera was at the ready. No sooner that I got there, I could see a UP local train waiting on track 1 west. I hear and see an eastbound unit grain train approach me going eastbound, also on track 1. 

The Sidney [NE] dispatcher has the eastbound lined to go from 1 to 2 just to the east of me. Once he clears, the crossovers are thrown and the westbound proceeds. But this westbound is different. Other than being only 14 cars long, it has a pair of General Motors/Electro-Motive Division SD40-2s, which is read as “S D Forty Dash 2” in railroad parlance. 

These locomotives are rated 3000 horsepower each and are the best sounding locomotives on the rails today in the opinion of this railfan. As the engineer throttles up the locomotives, the sweet sound of those V-16 prime movers brings a big smile to my face. And after the train rolls by, it is that rare time to what a railfan does best: chase and pace. For the record, it was UP 1593 leading with UP 1577 trailing.

Once I clear Julesburg, I am on US 138 West and the train is on a high embankment to my right. But as the railroad and 385 get closer together, I am now at a point where I set the cruise control on the S60 and pace the train, listening to the engineer vary the setting of the throttle to keep the train at 50 MPH. Luckily for me, there was only one person following me and I waved him around me. It was pure joy watching and listening to this local roll along. Once I crossed over the railroad at Chappell and made a left back onto US 30, the chase was back on. This time I have a much better view of the train to my left.

I am literally next to the mainline. The SD40-2s make easy work of the 14 car consist as the train heads westbound. At the town of Lodgepole, I bid ado to UP Local 1593 West and head to the local park in Lodgepole. And along the way, I managed to snap some pretty color and a UP eastbound.

After lunch in Sidney, it was time to find Cabela’s World headquarters and its flagship store. I was on a short mission: to find a DC-to-AC power inverter for the Volvo because my Rebel T6 needed its battery recharged if I was to make it to Cheyenne. 

Luckily for me and thanks to Harriet and Pat, the ladies were able to help me find just the right inverter. When I was looking around Sidney, I had asked Pat wondering where their warehouse was since their website gave the impression that it was near its headquarters. I found that, yes; it is near their headquarters by about 20 miles to the north of Sidney out in the middle of somewhere. After bidding Pat ado, it was back on the road to Cheyenne. And luckily for me, the eastbounds were running with practically all of them running with mid-train healers. And the award for longest freight ever seen by yours truly belongs to an eastbound unit grain train with 2 locomotives on the head end, 3 helper locomotives cut in between cars 99 and 100, and a helper on the end of car 211. And on the long curve where I was located in the town of Brownson, I could see the entire train, better than just over 2 miles long.

And the west of Brownson midway to Potter, there is Point of Rocks, this small mountain that juts out and the railroad and US 30 go around the point.

Other than that, it was a peaceful ride along the rest of US 30 before it crosses into Wyoming and you make your way to US 80 and head west at 80MPH towards Cheyenne. Arrival was 3:30pm MDT and I was able to secure some nice “office space”:

Namely third floor room 307 with a eastward view of the Union Pacific approaching and departing the western edge of Cheyenne which is crossed perpendicularly by the north/south elevated mainline of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe. All in all, a great day.

And before we head to dinner, an explanation to the second half of today’s heading: Last Ride.

As I entered downtown Sidney, you can see the mainline and Sidney yard as you look to the right on each cross street. And I saw UP 1577. I went down the next street and there were UP 1593 and UP 1577 idling on a spur track next to the back street. 

A UP crew van was waiting for the 2 brakemen and the engineer. After taking some pictures of the beautiful locomotives that I had chased earlier in the day, I met the engineer who name was Al. I introduced myself to him telling him where I was from and the section of Amtrak’s Shoreline route where I live. I also told Al that I was about 3 weeks being retired as a TV broadcast engineer. Well, he tells me that he is about to try out retirement. I asked when and he said right now. Al told me that his running of the Sidney Local today was his last run after 42 years with the Union Pacific. I gave him a hearty handshake and wished him the best in his retirement as he did to me. I felt honored to have met Al and to have been there on his last day. Truly inspiring. Good luck, Al. Thanks for your service to the Union Pacific Railroad.

Friday, we head west over the first Continental Divide as we descend into the Laramie Valley and the city of Laramie, home to the University of Wyoming (Go Cowboys!!). After a stop in Laramie, it is a trip up on the high plains to Medicine Bow and over to Tie Siding.

And the trains keep rolling outside my third floor window:

Sweet.

I’m Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Cheyenne, Wyoming.