Part Fifteen

"Working my way back"….to Omaha

A nod to an old Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons starts the third Saturday of my journey. 

I think I finally figured out why I have been having this great weather: I packed my Amtrak knitted hat, scarf and leather gloves for this trip. Just threw them into one of the outside pockets on my suitcase. And so far…..no cold weather. Temps in the overnight get down into the mid-40’s, which is understandable out here, but once the sun is up and starts climbing, we are good. Maybe I have been going about this all the wrong way. The last 2 times I had snow, no hat, scarf or gloves in the suitcase. I think I’ve got it.

Out of North Platte this morning, I am now on the last part of my trip. Trains were a bit head up due to work on main track 3 just east of there as the right-of-way crews continue to replace concrete ties.

Midway between Maxwell and Brady, I found that empty field along Route 30 where those junk cars use to be until they were all removed sometime between my trips in 2008 and 2010. 

It was quite the selection. All I could find today was maybe an old Volkswagen and what looked like an old Plymouth Valiant from the 1960’s. This is what it used to look like:

 

 

Sure had the guys interested from Girard Nissan in Groton where I have bought my 3 Sentras.

Further down the road, I stop by that rusty brown pedestrian bridge in Brady. Today is a slow day. Enjoying the last bits of my vacation. And of course, I had to wait and see the action roll by:

  

And one of the trains was an 80 car unit grain train. As the train passed underneath, all of the cars were brimming with corn kernels. Who knows what the final product will be of these kernels: fructose corn syrup for sodas; maybe ethanol to mix with gasoline. 

And coal loads going east:

And if you need to get a bridge built:

And across the street is Brady Island: keeping the faith and taking care of us travelers:

 

Out of Brady, I am back in Gothenburg and I start looking for my “homestead”. And today, I was determined to check out the place. I get there and look around and come to find out that the house is empty. 

It had the older style walls and dark wood molding. 

All of the power lines are still hooked up:

And my Verizon phone is at full scale with a tower a quarter of a mile to the west. The view from the front porch needs some clearing out:

And as I look from the front yard of the house, I see a westbound UP.

Just might give the folks at Gothenburg town hall on Monday to see about this house.

Almost into Cozad, I play tag with a unit grain train, UP 6020 East. I catch up with him near the west grade crossing in Gothenburg. 

 

And right behind it is this unit train that I have never seen before. With a buffer car behind the lead locomotives and one in front of the helper, there are 117 brand new tank cars with the reporting marks PPRX and fresh blue paint on the wheel bearings indicating they are brand new. 

The build plate on the cars indicates they were built “08-14”: August 2014. Pulling out the iPad, I find out that the cars were manufactured by American Railcar Industries, Inc., headquartered in Saint Charles, Missouri. The type of car is a 31,809 gallon crude oil tank car. 

The string of cars are most likely going to BNSF or Canadian Pacific to handle the huge loads of crude oil coming out of the Bakken Oil Fields in North Dakota. PPRX refers to the owner of the cars, Phillips 66 Company, now known as Conoco Phillips. This is a rarity to see. Still, quite the nice looking train.

Soon I am Back in Kearney and I need a nap. All of this traveling is catching up with me. After a nap, it is on to St. James Church in Kearney for the 5pm Vigil Mass. 

Beautiful inside and complete with an audio/visual coordinator. 

 

 

The big blank wall above the altar acts as a movie screen.

 Lyrics to the hymns and the spoken word are put up via a PowerPoint projector. Very cool and different.

After church, it is time to get dinner, but that turns out to be an adventure. Seems the main drag through town, known as U.S. Route 44, has a lot of traffic and there are school buses and long distance coaches at some of the fast food places. Lots of happy fans from the Nebraska/Rutgers football game in Lincoln earlier in the day are making a pit stop on their way home. Go Big Red!!

Sunday is a day of….trains. Hopefully lots of them. Sunny skies yet again and temps in the mid-70’s. Gonna be tough going back home.

I’m Philip J Zocco. On The Road. In Kearney, Nebraska.