For the last couple of weeks, my wife, Sharlene and I had been on the road, visiting friends in Texas and now, we found ourselves on the way home.  From Texas, we headed north to see new country, and decided to head home on I-80.  I had sort of worked it out that North Platte, NE would be our day's destination, since North Platte has a modest rail yard, and is a busy division point on U.P.'s Overland Route.  Where could you find a better place to spend the night, assuming you're a railfan?

Photost:  U.P. 7199 west leads a cement train into North Platte.

After checking into our motel, I hurriedly loaded our luggage into the motel room, and with my wife's blessing, I headed for the tracks.  From the motel, I headed north on U.S. 83, crossed the tracks, and headed east on U.S. 30, which was the main east-west highway before I-80 was constructed in the early 1960's.  U.S. 30 closely parallels the tracks and provides numerous access points.

North Platte features a modest yard, engine service facilities and is a crew change point, but yards aren't my "thing."  Since I had a limited time to railfan, (I was on a "wife-friendly" vacation and didn't want to alienate her) I highballed east on U.S. 30 and out of town toward the open prairie.

Left:  U.P. #7001 leads an eastbound manifest out of the North Platte yard.  Right:  U.P. #6683 leads another eastbound manifest east, from the yard at North Platte.  How can you pass up a photograph like this?

North Platte is located where the North Fork of the Platte River meets the South Fork; the Platte River proper is formed.  U.S. 30 crosses over the tracks, which disappear into a marshy area at the confluence of the rivers.  

Soon, U.S. 30 joins the tracks again, and I turned off an access road that leads to M.P. 270. The railroad is double-tracked, with a "suicide track" in the middle, for a total of three tracks.  The north track is used for westbounds, the south track is for easbounds and the middle track can be used for either and features many crossovers.  It is interesting to note that all loaded westbound trains have one dpu at the end; all the eastbound trains I observed were empty with no dpu's.

Left:  U.P. #7302 heads an eastbound manifest east out of North Platte, Ne.  Right:  U.P. #4765 west heads into the sun, with an auto parts train in tow, ready to enter North Platte.

I managed to photograph four trains at MP 270, then traveled east to MP 274, a.k.a. as East Keith. There, I managed to catch a couple more until it was time to leave.  It was starting to get time to head back to the motel, but I didn't want to backtrack, so I decided to head east to Maxwell, then turn south and take the interstate back to North Platte.  However, plans changed when I spotted a westbound a few miles away.  Luck was with me, as there is a bridge that crosses the tracks at the west end of Maxwell, MP 274.4, and I nailed the westbound U.P. with a great view of the town and the fall foliage in the background.

Left:  U.P. #6334 leads another westbound manifest past the signal lights that mark the east end of North Platte. Right:  I've posistioned myself over the tracks at East Keith, as U.P. #5918 leads a westbound container train toward North Platte, NE.  Truly a good photograph, as it combines railroad action with autumn leaves. Hmmm,  I guess that would make Nat King Cole proud...

As I previously mentioned, I only had a couple of hours to railfan the North Platte, Nebraska area, but the hours were well-spent, and I'd suggest all travelers of the interstate to pull off of it, relax,  and spend the night at North Platte.  You'll get a chance to take in some interesting mid-western railroad action, that only Nebraska can offer. Plus, if you stay at the Howard Johnson motel, like we did, you'll get to eat some awesome Chinese food at the Hong Kong restaurant, which is an awesome buffet that features fresh, ready-to-eat food in Mandarin, Szechuan and Cantonize cusine; food like Hong Kong's will make any railfan trip worthwhile.

Check out North Platte, as it's an awesome railfan destination.