SUNDAY, JULY 10: NEW LONDON - DENVER, CO We flew to Denver from the Providence, RI, airport on United Airlines. This was the first airplane trip for Daniel, my four-year old, and the first airplane trip for Matthew, my 7 1/2-year old, that he would remember. He took his first airplane trip when he was just two months old. The flight involved changing planes in Chicago. The first leg of the flight was on a DC-8, and there is a channel on which one can hear to pilot talking to the air traffic controllers. Interesting, not unlike train dispatching. We had an hour between planes in Chicago, so I left my camera bag with my wife, Ann, took the kids, and went for a ride on the new VAL train that connects the Long Term Parking Lot with the four airline terminals. Though I've been through Chicago a number of times since the line began operating, I had not bothered to ride it because I didn't want to hassle with the security check of my cameras and film. The ride was fun; the kids loved it. The top speed of the trains seemed to be about 55 mph based upon a comparison with cars on the O'Hare access highway. On Sunday two two-car trains provided service with a headway of about eight minutes. Our departure from Chicago was delayed due to a faulty tray table and a problem with one engine. We left 30 minutes late; a significant amount on a two-hour flight. But, because it was a mechanical failure, the flight was still logged as arriving in Denver on time. We landed in Stapleton because the high-tech baggage handling system at Denver International Airport still isn't functioning. MONDAY, JULY 11: COLORADO SPRINGS The first three days of our vacation were intended to be a "breather" before the two-plus weeks of travel in the car with the kids through the Midwest. Consequently, we didn't have any firm plans laid on. Around mid-morning we decided to drive to Colorado Springs to ride the Manitou and Pikes Peak cog-wheel railway. During the drive south we saw absolutely no trains on the joint line. We even got off I-25 in the vicinity of Larkspur and Palmer Lake to improve the odds of seeing a train. At Palmer Lake, in a section single track we saw some track maintenance equipment on the rails which explained the lack of freights. The Pikes Peak RR was sold out, but we were told we could try and get on a train from a standby list. We headed into Colorado Springs for lunch at a restaurant owned by the parents of a co- worker of mine. We found the place, but my friend had forgotten to tell me the restaurant was closed on Mondays. The weather had been sunny in Denver, and for most of the journey south to Colorado Springs. But, there was a path of clouds that covered Manitou and Colorado Springs. The clouds only thickened and lowered during lunch, and the area around Pikes Peak looked pretty ugly. We decided to visit the Cave of the Winds instead, which was an interesting diversion. On the drive back to Denver we saw two trains on the joint line pass in the vicinity of the Air Force Academy stadium. Rather than take I-25 all the way into Denver, I got off on U.S. 85 which follows the Joint Line through Littleton and Englewood. We saw an ATSF switcher near Littleton, but that was it. Not a busy day on the Joint Line. From Englewood into Denver U.S. 85 is being upgraded into a four-lane divided highway. It looks as if in conjunction with this work, the railroad tracks are being shifted a bit east. They are being placed on large, new bridges where they pass over roadways. These bridges are wide enough for four tracks; the RTD hopes to extend their light rail line along this corridor to a terminal at Mineral Avenue near the McLellan Reservoir. TUESDAY, JULY 12: DENVER We spent Tuesday running errands around town. We had lunch at the Wykoop Brewery, just across the street from Denver Union Station. On the drive home we located the light rail shop. One of the SD-70M demonstrators was in Burnham Yard, but I couldn't get close enough to see which one. The kids had behaved well, and we treated them to an hour or so at a neighborhood playground. WEDNESDAY, JULY 13: DENVER LRT Fortuitous timing enabled me to "tag along" on a tour of the LRT facilities for the RTD's service monitors. A special bus departed the RTD headquarters at 8:15 a.m. for the maintenance facility at 6th & Mariposa. Once at the depot we were divided into three groups and given a guided tour of the maintenance building. There are a total of eight tracks. From west to east there are three outdoor storage tracks, an indoor track through the car washer, an indoor track containing a painting room, and three inside shop tracks. The shop includes two tracks with inspection pits, a wheel-truing machine, body jack, and seven-ton overhead crane. The RTD can do almost all maintenance on its fleet of 11 light rail vehicles. All 11 cars have been delivered to the RTD, though not all have been released to the RTD for testing. We walked under car no. 111, which had not yet been on the line for testing. It was interesting to see a perfectly clean underside. After the depot tours we boarded car no. 104 and took two trips along the test track north of the depot. The test track is about 3/4-mile long, with one grade crossing, at 13th Street. When the gates are functioning cars can reach 55 mph, but on he day of our tour we had to stop at the crossing to get the gates to activate. But, the cars were still able to reach 45 mph. The ride was exceptionally smooth and quiet. The LRT line will be a railfan mecca when it opens. The southern terminal at I-25/Broadway is adjacent to the Joint Line. The next stop north, at Alameda, is on an elevated structure right near Colorado Junction, the north end of the Joint Line. The line runs past the east side of the SP's Burnham Shops. The line is due to open on Friday, 7 October. Base service headways will be 10 minutes, and during rush hours extra trains will run between downtown and I-25/Broadway will reduce the headway on the southern section of the line to 5 minutes. Many bus routes that now run into downtown Denver will terminate at I-25/Broadway. Following the RTD tour, Bob Rynerson and Jeff Dunning gave me a walking tour of the portion of the I-25 Busway project under construction in the Union Station area. They shed a significant insight into the politics of decisions that resulted in the present configuration of Union Station train platforms and the busway. There is still a group of misguided officials in Denver who would like to see Amtrak move away from Union Station; fortunately they are in the minority. In fact, at one time during the long planning process for the future of Union Station, one "well-connected" engineer was positive that Amtrak would cease to exist, and thus not even be a player! THURSDAY, JULY 14: DENVER - NORTH PLATTE, NE (300 miles) We departed my in-laws' house in Denver at 9:15 a.m. Our plans were to travel to Julesburg for lunch, and then take our time along U.S. 30 in Nebraska to North Platte. Fortunately, our plans were flexible. Just prior to our departure I had called Amtrak and learned that the westbound California Zephyr/Desert Wind had arrived in Denver at 8:50 a.m., about 40 minutes late. Because the weather was overcast I didn't plan to swing by Union Station to take a photo. However, as we passed north of Speer Blvd, we noted a BN freight heading onto the "Consolidated Line" with three SD70MACs and what appeared to be a dynamometer car ahead of a unit coal train. The Consolidated Line runs from south of 23rd Street through downtown Denver to the beginning of the Joint Line at Colorado Junction. The freight was worth investigating, since I'd gotten the impression from CIS and magazines that the SD70MACs weren't being used in service south of Nebraska. The dynamometer car would indicate that what we saw might have been a first run of these units on the Joint Line. Because the weather was so cloudy I decided not to turn around and get ahead of the coal train for a photo. But, I was in an exit- only lane, and I had to leave I-25 at the 28th Street exit. As long as I was off the highway, I figured that I would go see what power was on the Zephyr. We drove over the new 23rd Street Viaduct, past the Burlington Northern Diesel Shop and the under-construction Coors Field. The power was AMD-103 no. 805 and P32 no. 504. This was the first time I'd seen a pairing of Amtrak's newest motive power. Construction near the tracks for the I-25 busway prevented us from getting a good shot. (My seven-year old Matthew and four- year old Daniel accompanied me in the search for a way to the platform.) By this time it was 9:40 a.m., and as we drove back over the 23rd Street Viaduct it appeared as if the CZ/DW was about to depart. I parked the car at the west end of the viaduct, and walked up the sidewalk on the viaduct. This viaduct will become one of the hottest railfan spots in Denver! The sidewalk is on the west side of the viaduct, and overlooks both the BN's 23rd Street crossing and the D&RGW's (er, SP's) Prospect Interlocking. The old viaduct's sidewalk was on the east side and provided a good view of the BN diesel shop and mainline north. Once up on the viaduct Matthew and I waited, and waited and waited. After about 30 minutes we walked towards Coors Field to see if we could see any activity on the station platform 1/4 mile away that would provide a clue as to why the CZ/DW was still in the station. While over near Coors Field, an empty unit-train of coal cars came off the Consolidated Line and crossed under where we'd been standing earlier on the viaduct. It was led by two Oakway leased units, and would have made a nice photo. The only bright spot in this wait was that the sun was beginning to break through the clouds more and more frequently. I'm not sure that meant much to Ann and Daniel, who was none too happy about having been left in the car while his brother accompanied me to take photos. By 10:30 I made a decision that we would leave at 10:45 if the CZ/DW had not yet come by. Not a happy prospect, but we still had 300 miles to travel. Not that there hadn't been train activity. In the first hour we'd been on the bridge we saw a freight from the D&RGW yard head south towards the Consolidated Line, a cut of five engines head into the D&RGW yard from the Consolidated Line, and the aforementioned BN train. There were also some miscellaneous movements of engines around the BN diesel shop. At 10:40 a.m. a train off the Consolidated Line heading to the D&RGW yard with two LMX units in the lead stopped south of Prospect. This was promising, I thought. But, no. It had stopped to let a BN freight from the yard head south around the connecting track at 23rd Street into the BN yard north of the diesel shops. But, just as the BN freight passed under the viaduct, I looked back to Union Station and saw the CZ/DW on the move! Time: 10:47 a.m., 1hr 37 min late. Suddenly over an hour of frustration became elation. The sun was out, and in the background was the freight with the LMX engines. The CZ/DW slowly made it's way to 23rd Street, and then had to stop for the brakeman to alight the switch on the bridge over the Platte River. While he was doing that, two BN engines with three cabooses came up on the BN/D&RGW connecting track and stopped. What a shot, three trains at once! What a traffic jam. I did not record the consist of the CZ/DW, but did note it had two new Superliner II sleepers (32071 and 32072) and a Santa Fe Hi- Level lounge car. By 11:00 a.m. we were on the road. Up I-25 and onto I-76. The BN line to Fort Morgan runs parallel to I-76 in places and near Hudson we came upon a northbound train. It was the empty unit coal train that we'd seen earlier in Denver! Ann took two pacing shots out the window before the tracks and I-76 separated. We had lunch at a Pizza Hut in Brush, and then resumed our journey, though not on the Interstate. I planned to use state roads that more closely followed the BN tracks to Sterling and Julesburg. Brush is where the BN's lines to Sterling, CO, and McCook, NE split. As I got off I-25 to head north, I saw a train stopped on the tracks south of us. I turned around and headed towards Brush. Just east of a crossing was the stopped train, "cut" into three sections so as not to block other grade crossings. The power was LMX-8507, B-unit 4007 and 6845. After taking a photo I drove into town to see the junction itself and found GP39M no.2825 (a GP-30 rebuilt by M-K in 1989) with caboose 12084 switch a long cut of grain cars. The partly cloudy weather cooperated with photography of this local train out of Fort Morgan. The engineer of the train informed me that a local and the unit coal train would soon be arriving from the west and another train would be coming from the east. I was only able to stay long enough to see the local arrive. It was 2:00 p.m., and we still had "the best part" of the trip to go. The drive north on U.S. Route 138 was uneventful, and I ended up returning to I-76 until just south of Julesburg. Route 138 crosses over the UP line to Cheyenne just west of Julesburg, and then turns east to parallel it. At the junction of the line from Cheyenne and the UP/BN line from Sterling there was a local UP freight switching. There is a park next to the tracks in Julesburg that was voted "The Best Park to Watch Trains in Colorado" by readers of "Westword," a weekly "alternative" Denver newspaper. Just west of downtown Julesburg we found a westbound train stopped on one of the three mainline tracks through town. In Big Springs, population 542, there was an eastbound ballast train resting on a siding. We had to leave the tracks for a few miles and head north to U.S. Route 30. While we were about 1/2-mile away from the tracks, we saw a westbound train heading through Big Springs. The train activity from here to North Platte was intense. This was all the more notable because except for the last 13 miles into North Platte there was no Powder River coal train traffic. After one or two trains came by I enlisted the help of Matthew to keep track of all the trains we passed and that passed us. Yep, passed us. The speed limit on U.S. 30 is 55 mph. I'd gotten a ticket in 1989 when driving west on U.S. 30 in Nebraska for doing 65 mph. I wasn't about to add additional funds to the state's coffers. The trains travel up to 79 mph, and it is quite a sight to see the triangular light pattern in the rear-view mirror slowly catch up with the car. Approximately 5 miles west of Sutherland I noted a new railroad bridge crossed U.S. 30, the UP, and the Platte Valley from North to South. There were still "road construction" signs lying beside the pavement by the bridge abutments. This bridge carries a track from the UP line that runs along the North Platte River (and joins the "Overland Route" at O'Fallons), to a power plant along the South Platte River at Sutherland. The best way to describe the train activity here is by the following table, kept by Matthew. We were driving east at 55 mph. All times are Mountain Daylight, though east of Paxton local Nebraska time is Central Daylight. An "X" under EAST/WEST indicates the direction, and "SW" means a local/switcher. An "X" under PHOTO means I took a picture of the train. TIME EAST WEST LOCATION TYPE PHOTO 1545 SW Julesburg local 1547 X Julesburg coal 1558 SW Big Springs MOW X 1600 X Big Springs coal 1615 X Brule piggyback X 1624 X MP 340.2 piggyback X 1625 X MP 340.2 doublestk X 1631 X Ogallala local 1637 X MP 330.4 doublestk 1641 X Roscoe doublestk X 1652 X MP 321 piggyback 1657 X Paxton doublestk 1717 X Hershey gen. mer. 1717 X (passed train that had passed us at MP 321) 1724 X West End, NP Yard coal 1724 X (passed train that had passed us at MP 340.2) After checking into the hotel in North Platte I headed out to the yard to see if I could get any photos as the sun was ducking through the clouds. I approached the yard from U.S. 30, and found a road that paralleled the north side of the yard. Then it crossed the tracks, and entered the yard. I hadn't seen any "No Trespassing" signs. I found a UP official in a pickup truck and asked him for directions to the diesel shop which I knew were somewhere to the west. Rather than direct me around the yard, he gave me directions THROUGH the yard "and under the humps!" It was an interesting drive, to say the least. The amount of power sitting outside the diesel shops was impressive. As I drove east into North Platte itself I saw at least six eastbound trains waiting to leave. FRIDAY, JULY 15: NORTH PLATTE - LINCOLN (275 miles) I woke up before the family, hoping to get some morning photos at the North Platte yard before proceeding east. But an impressive thunderstorm was passing through the area, and I had to be satisfied with watching the storm pass. A pleasant experience. I like thunderstorms. Unfortunately, the eastward movement of the storm did not bode well for photography during the day. Before heading east on U.S. 30 we located a park in the northeast part of the town off Poplar Street that contains some old UP equipment. The motive power on display in the park is Challenger no. 3977 and Centennial no. 6922. The bad weather didn't have an impact on train operations, though it did preclude photography. Just east of town a third track was being installed. Most of the thunderstorms had passed by the time we left the hotel, but one last severe one approached North Platte from the west as we headed east. It didn't catch up to us, though for a time we were as busy watching for the headlights of approaching trains as we were watching lighting. By the time we had gotten to Darr the clouds looked as if they were breaking up, and at Lexington I was able to look west into blue sky. We stopped at Lexington so that I could take a photo of a switcher owned by the DeBruce Grain Co. Matthew was getting better at writing down train information, and after Lexington I had him also record the predominant reporting marks in the coal trains. Approaching Kearney U.S. 30 and the tracks separate by about 1/2-mile. In the distance we noted a significant amount of track equipment on the rails, and at 30th Avenue turned south to the tracks. The sun was now poking out from time to time, and waiting to go west was a doublestack train with three CW40-8s, a rare lineup. Before heading west, the last three eastbound trains we'd seen came by. The engineer obligingly turned on his headlights while waiting so I could get a photo that looked as if the train was moving. After that doublestack train left we "went to beans" at a Hardee's in Kearney. Our pre-lunch train sightings are summarized below. TIME EAST WEST LOCATION TYPE PHOTO 0904 X North Platte coal 0917 X North Platte gen 0920 X MP 280 piggyback 0929 X Maxwell coal 0931 siding Maxwell rail grinder 0934 X MP 267 coal (CNW) 0941 X Brady track car 0942 X Brady gen. mer. (CNW) 0946 X Farr coal (BN) 0949 X Farr coal 0957 X Gothenburg coal 0958 X Gothenburg local (3200) 1017 X Willow Island coal 1022 X Cozad coal (CNW) 1024 X Cozad doublestk 1030 X Darr coal 1040 X Lexington local (3200) 1041 X Lexington gen. mer. 1050 X Lexington piggyback X 1056 X MP 220 gen. mer. 1101 X Overton coal/WPEX 1109 X MP 209 coal/ICRX 1111 X Simonds coal/KMGX 1117 X Elm Creek doublestk 1117 X Elm Creek piggyback 1119 X MP 200 gen. mer. 1125 track equipment on EB track, Kearney 1130 X (1119 MP 200 train) 1145 X (1117 Elm Creek Train) X 1200 X (1111 Simonds train) X 1206 X 30th Ave., Kearney doublestk X The "stripe" of clouds overhead became less dense during lunch, and the afternoon looked promising for photography. The "downside" of this was that our progress towards Lincoln slowed appreciably. We made one stop east of Buda to photograph a slow-moving coal train. The cars were all silver, and contrasted nicely with the blue sky and green corn stalks. Gibbon was a "must stop." A UP worker named Lance was waiting in the opening between the Grand Island and Hastings routes. He was waiting for a train from Hastings; he was to pick up a roadmaster riding that train. Lance was very surprised to learn that the UP mainline through Nebraska was such a favorite of railfans. "But you've got many more trains in the east," he said. Frequent trains can work against you. I was setup to get the westbound listed below at 1352 passing the eastern home signals at Gibbon. But, the eastbound came roaring by as it approached. The westbound train was blocked from my view by the last seven cars of the eastbound coal train. Bummer. Bigger bummer when I saw that the westbound's power was two CNW CW44-9s! Our afternoon along the rails came to an end at Wood River, 15 miles west of Grand Island, due to a detour. I decided to head south to I-80, and continue to Lincoln. Probably a good decision, because we still had over 100 miles to go to reach our destination for the night, Eugene T. Mahoney State Park. Shortly after getting on I-80 we saw the four shells of new BART cars being trucked west. That was the end of the railfanning until a brief period just east of Lincoln where the BN mainline from Hastings gets within sight of I-80. A unit coal train was proceeding east. The afternoon's sighting of trains along the UP is listed below. During the roughly five hours we were along the UP mainline we saw 42 different trains, including track cars and the rail grinder. That works out to an average of one train every eight minutes. TIME EAST WEST LOCATION TYPE PHOTO 1250 X 2nd Ave., Kearney coal 1258 X MP 187 gen. mer. 1302 X Buda coal/CWEX 1308 X MP188.8 coal/MPSX X 1321 X Gibbon (MP 175) doublestk X 1325 X Gibbon gen. mer. X 1343 X Gibbon (fm. Hast.) gen. mer. X 1350 X Gibbon coal X 1352 X Gibbon coal/IPSX X 1359 X Gibbon (fm. Hast.) gen. mer. 1404 X Gibbon (to Hast.) gen. mer. X 1422 X Shelton unk. 1427 X Cory (MP 166) doublestk 1430 X Wood River doublstk (CNW) X Eugene T. Mahoney State Park was the site of a family reunion of my mother-in-law's family. It is located on the Platte River roughly mid-way between Lincoln and Omaha. The BN mainline ran along the shore of the Platte River adjacent to the park, and while we couldn't see the trains, we could hear the trains going by just 1/4-mile from our window. Ashland, three miles north of the park, is the junction where trains bound directly for Iowa turn south to travel along the west bank of the Platte River to Plattsmouth and the crossing of the Missouri River. Trains bound for Omaha continue northeast at Ashland. Since most BN trains don't pass through Omaha, the route by the park was quite busy. SATURDAY, JULY 16 - OMAHA The family reunion had some children activities planned for Saturday morning as well as a general get-together in a meeting room. I wanted to visit the Union Pacific Museum in Omaha, so I spent the morning and early afternoon in Omaha. It is located in the UP headquarters building on the ground floor, and is open Monday through Saturday. Admission is free. It takes about an hour to go through the museum if you read all the information sheets posted on the walls. It is well worth the time. The videos of UP television commercials from the mid-70s to mid-80s were an oddity I hadn't expected to find. They must have only been aired in the Midwest. They featured the "Union Pacific Song," which I suppose is well known out here in UP territory. One of the commercials used different locomotive horns to "play" the UP song and another, entitled "Rhythm," used different sounds of maintenance tools to mimic the tune. A little boy exclaimed excitedly to his mother "That's the UP song," after hearing only a few notes. The museum was refurbished in the mid-80s. It makes no mention of the Powder River coal trains. None of the videos show wide-cab locomotives. The commercials from the mid-80s ended with the UP logo and three lines of type as follows: "UNION PACIFIC," "Union Pacific Railroad," "Missouri Pacific Railroad." However, Western Pacific fans will be pleased to note that the WP lines on the large wall map of the UP system are indicated in a different color than the base UP lines. The MP and KATY lines also rate their own color. After learning about the history of the UP it was time to do some photography. With only a half-day to spend in town, and really having only two more hours before I had to head back to the reunion, I decided the best bet for photography was the 10th Street bridge immediately west of the UP and BN stations. The UP station is now the Western Heritage Museum. The BN station is still trying to find a purpose in life; a sign on the station indicated that it's new purpose was to be the "City Market." Shortly after arriving on the bridge a BN switch engine (no. 576) came west by the station. A few minutes later two UP switchers (nos. 1251 & 1259) came off the bridge to Council Bluffs and headed out of sight to the west. Five minutes late the switchers reappeared on the tracks that service the small container transfer yard now located where the UP passenger station platforms used to be. For the next 40 minutes the UP switchers repositioned cars on the three yard tracks. From the bridge I could see westbound trains coming off the Missouri River bridge, and I could see the home signals for eastbound trains. At 12:20 p.m. a BN transfer arrived from Council Bluffs, slowly traversed the UP/BN connection at the east end of the BN station, and then came to a stop as soon as the train cleared the connecting track. Five minutes later the train began to back down the track leading to BN's yard on the Platte River. At 1:02 p.m. the signal on the north track (normally westbound) changed to approach medium. With the switchers done with their work I thought the signals might have been for them. But, at 1:13 p.m. the switchers came racing by on the normal eastbound track, past a restricted approach signal. That meant a "real train" was still due. Ten minutes later the BN switcher drifted downhill with a single gondola that contained pieces and parts for a precast concrete bridge. Then, at 1:28 p.m. a CNW train of empty IPSX coal cars arrived from across the Missouri River on the eastbound track. The second unit was one of the new C44-8s. After 15 cars had passed under the bridge the eastbound train I'd been waiting for showed up. A case of "too many trains" since the CNW train blocked the view of the eastbound UP train from the vantage point I had wanted to shoot from. But, I was able to get some "coming and going" coal-train photos. At 1:40 p.m., when the CNW train cleared the Missouri River Bridge, the signal on the eastbound track again went to restricted approach. By this time the fluffy clouds were beginning to obscure the sun about 50% of the time. At 1:50 p.m. an eastbound UP train came around the bend west of the bridge, chasing a patch of sun in an otherwise cloudy moment. I'll wait until the photo comes back from processing before passing judgement on the quality of the photo. At 2:00 p.m. I had to head back to Mahoney State Park. But, It had been a good two hours. Four trains from three different railroads, plus two switchers. SUNDAY, JULY 17: MAHONEY STATE PARK - GRAND ISLAND (220 miles) A look at the map will reveal that the distance between the park and Grand Island is really about 120 miles. Somehow we managed to make the trip last 220 miles. With a short distance to travel there wasn't any pressure to leave early, and we got on the road around 10:00 a.m. We took U.S. 6 into Lincoln. The road parallels the BN mainline and on the outskirts of Lincoln a unit coal train heading east passed us. The station in Lincoln has been restored into offices and the like. Amtrak has a space at one end of the complex, and there is a small park with a fountain. The water comes from a replica of a water tower. On the track adjacent to the station CB&Q K4 2-6-0 no. 710 is on display along with six boxcars that represent a family tree of the BN: CB&Q 24010, SP&S 12200, SLSF 10085, GN 138170, NP 96069 and BN 376680. While we were at the station two unit coal trains passed through the yard, one eastbound and one westbound. I wasn't able to get any photos, though the weather had turned sunny and hot. Route 6 follows the BN mainline from just east of Friend to Sutton. We had lunch at a hamburger stand in Friend, and sat next to the tracks. But, no trains came by. And, we saw no action on the BN until we got to the station in Hastings. An eastbound train came by with doublestack and piggyback cars. We then went exploring UP's new Hastings bypass. We went to the yard south of town. A coal train was stopped on the southernmost mainline track through the yard, but the signal for the track was yellow. Matthew and I were waiting for the train about a mile from where the train's engine was located. After about a 25 minute wait, the engine's headlight brightened, and we could see exhaust smudges against the sky. Slowly the train approached, and we got our photos. The train stopped at the south end of the yard; the end was adjacent to where we were standing. I thought it was nice of the engineer, who was a woman, to give us a photo run- by. While getting some photos of an Ohio crane located on a wye at the north side of the yard a piggyback train came roaring past. Five minutes later, as we were driving north along the yard towards town, we saw another train approach. It briefly stopped, presumably because it was so close to the piggyback, but then proceeded south. All this in just 30 minutes, it somewhat made up for the lack of action on the BN. On the way to Grand Island I took some photos of the north end of the UP line relocation project. There are some nice bridges over the tracks for photos, including the 16th Street bridge that is over the location where the old line turned south and the new line continues east. The UP paid most of the $30 million cost for the new route which was dedicated on June 1. The drive into Grand Island was uneventful, but, true to form, there was an eastbound train on the UP mainline as we crossed over it. The BN grade separation project at the east end of town is well under way. Many bridge abutments are poured, and a fair amount of the embankments are in place south of the UP crossing. During a 10-minute visit to the BN/UP crossing in the evening I saw three westbound trains. Unfortunately, I strip of clouds placed the crossing in the shade. I ran into two railfans from the Chicagoland area. They were heading east after spending a week in the Powder River coal fields. They had stories of seeing trains "dead on the law" in many sidings. MONDAY, JULY 18: GRAND ISLAND - OGALLALA (186 miles) This day was intended to be primarily a train chasing day for me. When I awoke at 7:30 a.m. and looked out the window, I saw clear skies. Great I thought. Well, folks may say weather in New England changes frequently; I've learned that you can't tell the day's weather in Nebraska by what you encounter when you wake up. Our first stop was back at the UP/BN crossing on the east side of town. I asked for and received permission to stand on the south side of the UP tracks from an official in the yard office. The entrance to the yard is clearly marked "Private Property, UPRR, No Trespassing." The sun was still low enough for a few decent roster shots of the power sitting in the yard. Nearer the mainline tracks were two stopped coal trains, one of which had CNW power. At 9:45 a.m. I talked to a BN employee working on the grade separation project. He said that four eastbounds were due within 15 minutes; they were just waiting for some track equipment that had passed to get in the clear. Then that would be it for the morning. Over half-hour later the first train came by, and the signals indicated another was on the way. But first a westbound UP coal train banged its way over the crossing. Then came the second BN train. But, you wouldn't have known it from the power: KCS no. 732 and ATSF no. 811. It was then past time to begin heading west. As we were leaving Grand Island the weather clouded up. I was glad I'd gotten some shots in the Gibbon area on Friday. The clouds stayed heavy until Kearney, and by Elm Creek we were again under brilliant blue skies. We saw a three trains at Gibbon: the westbound coal train I mentioned above, an eastbound that was headed down the Marysville Subdivision, and a local. Other than that, the UP was really very quiet. Is a Monday morning lull normal? Of course, compared to most railroad lines, the six trains we saw in one hour would have kept any railfan happy. We had lunch at Cozad, whose claim to fame is that it is located on the 100th Meridian west of Greenwich, England. There was a great celebration when the railroad reached this location. It is said that the air east of here receives moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the air west of here comes from the arid desert. While getting gas and sandwiches two eastbound trains came by. While the family had lunch by the restored Cozad depot I was able to photograph four more trains, including the westbound coal train from Grand Island and Gibbon. For the rest of the trip to North Platte, the tracks were as busy as ever. There were a number of good photo opportunities, especially in the curves between Farr and Brady in the vicinity of MP 259. In North Platte took a detour off U.S. 30 to look at what was sitting in the yard. About this time the clouds again entered the picture, so to speak. And most frustrating. The cloud group was only about 5 miles wide, but it managed to cover the rail line. However, west of North Platte the train action diminished considerably. I had wanted to get some photos at O'Fallons where the line towards the Wyoming coal fields splits from the line to Cheyenne, but any photos would have been dull. So we continued on to Ogallala. At the east edge of town, just as a small break in the clouds appeared, we were able to photograph a west bound general merchandise train. It was operating left handed, and since it had been stopped when we first saw it, I figured there might be another train ahead of it. We didn't find another train, but I did try some shots of this train against the stormy clouds. We arrived at our hotel just before an impressive dust storm kicked up. In retrospect, it was a pretty decent day. The weather actually cooperated: sunny when there were trains to see, and during periods of busy train activity, and cloudy otherwise. The summary of today's trains is tabulated below. Some westbounds we saw more than once; I think I've kept them straight. The last westbound, the general merchandise train at Ogallala, we followed all the way to Rhule. At the North Platte Yard we did not record trains on the ready tracks that weren't moving. Peak activity was 18 trains in two hours between Cozad and North Platte. The table shows 44 sightings in a bit over seven hours. It includes some duplicates and a few stopped trains in sidings, such as both westbounds at O'Fallons. TIME EAST WEST LOCATION TYPE PHOTO 0938 X Grand Island (UP) piggyback X 1018 X Grand Island (BN) coal/ACCX X 1027 X Grand Island (UP) coal X 1039 X Grand Island (BN) coal/AEPX X 1126 X Gibbon (1027 G.I. coal train) 1128 X Gibbon (to Hast.) piggyback 1128 local Gibbon local 1140 X Kearney doublestk 1203 X Elm Creek coal/ETCX 1209 X Simonds coal/CAOX 1225 X Spring Creek gen. mer. 1230 local Lexington (engine 3200) 1233 X MP 228 doublestk 1253 X Cozad coal/RWSX 1304 X Cozad coal/SATX 1307 X Cozad (1027 G.I. coal train) X 1317 X Cozad piggyback X 1320 X Cozad doublestk X 1332 X Cozad coal/FXIX 1333 X Cozad coal/WEPX 1340 X MP 246 doublestk 1340 X MP 246 gen. mer. 1351 X Farr gen. mer. 1359 X MP 259 (W. Farr) doublestk X 1407 X MP 259 coal X 1411 X MP 259 piggyback X 1421 X MP 264 coal/UCEX 1425 X MP 269 gen. mer. 1430 X Maxwell grain X 1439 X Maxwell (1411 MP 259 piggyback) X 1450 X MP 277 piggyback X 1500 X N. Platte doublestk 1512 X N. Platte Yard doublestk 1513 X N. Platte Yard coal 1531 X N. Platte Yard doublestk X 1535 X N. Platte Yard (1500 train) 1601 X N. Platte Yard grain X 1604 X N. Pl. Yd/west end coal X 1604 X N. Pl. Yd/west end coal/NSPX X 1611 X O'Fallons coal 1628 X O'Fallons (CNW) coal/WEPX 1633 X O'Fallons (Sct. Blf) coal 1702 X Roscoe gen. mer. 1707 X Ogallala gen. mer. X When I took photos, I asked Matthew to record the second and third engine numbers. This got expanded to just general recording of engine numbers of all trains. Matthew dilligenly wrote down engine numbers (without regard to ownership). We had a huge list for the eastbound trip, but it flew out of the car at the Grand Island UP/BN crossing. Here is the list Matthew compiled for July 18: 6862, 7026, 3400, 9264, 1260, 3696, 9020, 9025, 4210, 4213, 5057, 3466, 6883, 3808, 9519, 8038, 2340, 2346, 2377, 2470, 4212, 6262, 4211, 2337, 8611, 8532, 8655, 8606, 9206, 3145, 3144 TUESDAY, JULY 19: OGALLALA - RAPID CITY, SD (395 miles) This journey was the longest single day of travel planned for the vacation. The most direct route to Rapid City was in the vicinity of 300 miles, but we detoured in Northwest Nebraska to visit the Agate Fossil Bed National Monument. Because of the length of the trip, we got on the road by 8:00 a.m. Our hotel was south of town, and as we crossed the UP tracks en route U.S. Route 26, an eastbound train was racing through town. U.S. 26 enters the North Platte River valley at Lewellen. The UP route from O'Fallon follows the north side of the river valley. It is single-track, with numerous passing sidings. The real subject of interest today was the BN operations north of Alliance, so I didn't plan to spend time waiting along this route for trains to come by. The single-track does work to one's advantage, though, as trains waiting in sidings provide r)eady-made meets. Except for one train at Hemingford, all trains we saw on the way to Rapid City were coal trains: empty westbound and loaded eastbound. The first train we saw was a stopped westbound CNW train (with CNW coal cars) at Barton, MP 62.5 from O'Fallons. The sun angle was almost parallel with the tracks, but I was able to get a nice telephoto shot into the sun with the whole train. As we headed back on the road we saw the train's headlight go on. Oh, well. At Lytle (MP 80) we met our next "target of opportunity," an eastbound UP (SJIX/SFIX). It was going slow into the siding, and as soon as it stopped the fireman stepped off the train. A minute later the CNW train from Barton could be seen on the horizon, and three minutes later we photographed the meet. After shooting the UP freight leaving, we again headed off on U.S. 26. In addition to the trains, we saw a number of cyclists pedalling furiously eastbound into the very strong winds of the morning. As we found out during a snack and potty stop in Broadwater, they belonged to "Wandering Wheels 1994," a group of cyclists ranging in age from 14 to 66 who were riding from Seattle to Rehoboth Beach, DE. The purpose of their journey was "simply the challenge of cycling 3,000 miles across this great land of ours. If you would like to join them, their address is P.O. Box 207, Upland, IN, 46989 (tel: 317.998.7490 And now, back to trains. At MP 89 we saw a CNW (PLWX) train stopped in a siding, and as we drove around a small hill we saw an eastbound CNW (WEPX) train. I got no photos. Five miles later we saw a ballast groomer (sweep/profile blades) heading east. Northport, MP 114, is the junction between the UP and BN. A mile east of the actual BN/UP junction, just east of the U.S. Route 385 grade crossing, is a five track "holding yard." Four tracks are long enough to hold complete trains; one track can hold about 1/2 a coal train. On this day three of the four tracks were holding westbound empties. Two of the trains were UP, and the third was a CNW train. What made the CNW train so unique was that in addition to a C40-8 and C44-9, there was a Kodachrome-painted ATSF GE U-boat no. 8077 (U30C?). Just as we arrived at Northport at 10:41 a.m., an eastbound UP (SATX) came by. A few minutes later I saw another headlight up the track, and I decided to wait to get another shot of a train passing the four signals at the west end of the yard. As I was watching the headlight to detect movement of the train, I saw a southbound BN train from Alliance to Denver pass in front of the UP train. U.S. Route 385 roughly follows the BN between Northport and Alliance. As we left the North Platte River valley I could see two additional coal trains waiting west of the UP/BN diamond. There is also a track connection in the south/west direction for the BN which parallels the UP through the western portion of the river valley in Nebraska. At Angora we saw a southbound train with one UP and three BN engines. The "staging yard" at Alliance is located south of town next to U.S. 385. It was noon, so we took a lunch break at a McDonald's on Nebraska Route 2/U.S. 385 west of downtown. After lunch we headed south one block and spent about 25 minutes on the bridge over the tracks at the north end of the staging yard. The diesel shop is located north and east of the bridge, and one gets a great view of traffic going north/south through town. I can't confirm it, but since every train through Alliance gets new engines, I would assume that trains that enter Alliance from the east (from Grand Island) also use the staging yard. We got to the bridge at just the right time. A train with four "regular" BN engines slowly pulled out of the yard, passed under the road bridge, jogged right then left to head towards Crawford Hill. Right on its rear-end-device was another train, this one pulled by three SD70MACs (nos. 9415-9441-9447). It didn't get very far because the first train was stopped at the end of double track north of Alliance waiting for an eastbound train. We raced ahead of the train to 10th Street where I was able to get some decent closeups of the SD70MACs. The sun was a bit high for "perfect" roster shots (light on the trucks), but I was happy. Just after the eastbound coal train passed, a five-unit lashup of two SD40-2s, fuel tender, two SD40-2s also passed. Then it was time for the westbound empties to highball. The kids needed a potty break, and as we got back onto the road north of Alliance on NE Route 2 a third westbound was heading out of town. It's power was a real rainbow: BN-UP-KCS-EMD(Oakway). We got shots of it at West Alliance and East Berea. Some heavy equipment was working on the north side of the tracks in this area. It looked as if the BN was preparing a grade to double-track this section of the route. The road is on the south side of the tracks, so I'm making a conjecture here. Route 2 follows the tracks until Hemingford. The tracks continue northwest towards Crawford Hill, while the road turns due west for about six miles. As we left town we saw the SD70MAC-hauled train stopped north of Hemingford and a westbound general freight also stopped. This train had a Montana RailLink engine on the point. It was here that the primary railfan portion of the vacation ended. Rather than follow Route 2 into Crawford Hill, we continued west on Route 71 and un-paved "Old Cross Road" to Route 29 and the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. Not one of your more busy facilities run by the National Park Service. But, it was interesting to visit, and its isolation was remarkable. Along one of the trails one could look out over the rolling hills of Nebraska, and, except for a barbed wire fence, see no evidence of human habitation. After over an hour at the National Monument we drove north on Route 29 to Harrison. Just south of town we passed over the abandoned right-of-way of the CNW line between Crandall and Crawford. Harrison was founded by the railroad, and was originally called Summit. It had a peak population of 500, but is now an unincorporated community of just 291. The CNW right of way follows the White River east to Crandall, while U.S. Route 20 takes a route about 2 miles north. At Crandall I photographed another SD40-2/fuel tender helper lashup in the yard. The signals were dark, and it was getting late, so we began the last leg of our journey to Rapid City. North of Chadron we crossed over an active section of what had been the CNW "Cowboy Line." I don't recall all the details of who owns and operates what on this line, but the tracks were definitely in use here. A CNW branch from Dakota Junction (near Chadron) roughly parallels U.S. 385 and South Dakota Route 79 into Rapid City. Near Oelrichs, SD, the tracks cross the road for the first time. The very wavy jointed rail did appear shiny and in use. This part of the country is pure grasslands. On the top of hills you can easily see 20-30 miles. The slowly changing vista keeps the trip interesting, even without trains every few minutes. WEDNESDAY, JULY 20: BLACK HILLS NATIONAL FOREST (Twenty-fifth anniversary of the first moon landing) The primary destinations for today were the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore. But, there is an operating railroad in the Forest, "The Black Hills Central Railroad." This twenty-mile railroad operates over a former CB&Q line between Hill City and Keystone. The train has been in operation since 1971. It uses two 2-6-2 Baldwin steam locomotives. The BN abandoned their line parallel to U.S. Route 385 in the Forest in 1984, and the right-of- way is now a hiking and biking trail. At the Hill City yard there is some dual-gauge trackage, the original 1880 route must have been narrow gauge. A former Texas Zephyr observation car is in the yard, along with what looks like a combination RPO/coach (or parlor) car. One side of the car has five windows at one end, a door, and then a baggage compartment- type door at the other end. On the other side there are four windows opposite the five windows, and a small service door. We spent about three hours at the Crazy Horse Monument and mountain carving. The carving was started in 1947 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, and continues to this day. In fact, shortly after we arrived, we were able to witness a blast on the mountain. Most of the "carving" is done with explosives, just as was done on Mount Rushmore. Crazy Horse's head, 87 1/2-feet high, may be completed by the end of the century; no one knows when the whole free-standing carving will be completed. The project is funded solely by admission fees and private donations. En route Mt. Rushmore we encountered two buffalo sauntering through the forest. They created a "traffic jam" when drivers stopped to observe and photograph them. A few miles further on a herd of hungry, friendly donkeys blocked traffic. We also encountered a railfan. For a time a van driving ahead of us had a Kansas license plate which read "ATSF." The van pulled over at a scenic vista, and I followed. I asked the driver if he was a railfan, and he said he was. He was taking a break from trains by spending a week camping. U.S. Route 16 makes for an interesting approach to Mt. Rushmore. There are three tunnels, and each one is oriented to provide a direct view of Mt. Rushmore. There are also two 360- degree "pigtails," or spirals, used to gain/lose altitude. The Mt. Rushmore Monument is worth the visit. In the late afternoon shadow it looked much more weathered than all the photos in the gift shop. On the way back to Rapid City we drove by the CNW yard on the east side of town. A switcher was working on assembling a train of grain cars. There are many active sidings in town. THURSDAY, JULY 21: RAPID CITY - GILLETTE, WY (230 miles) We had planned to spend two days on the journey to Yellowstone, a distance of about 550 miles. We'd initially tried to make a reservation at a Super 8 Motel (where we were spending all our nights on the road except for the family reunion and Yellowstone), but were told by the Super 8 reservations clerk that there wasn't a hotel there. Ann looked at the road maps, and asked if Gillette would be alright. I looked at the railroad atlas and noted that the north end of the BN mainline through the Power River coal field is near Gillette. Great I said. The distance between Rapid City and Gillette by I-90 is approximately 142.00 miles. By now you've probably gotten the idea that we never take the shortest way, and this part of the journey was no exception. We started out heading southwest to Mr. Rushmore to see it in the morning light. It looked quite different than the previous afternoon. With sunlight shining on it the carved rock is much brighter than the surrounding rocks. We then proceeded north on U.S. 385 through the heart of the Black Hills Forest and ended up in Deadwood for lunch. Deadwood is getting a facelift, thanks to revenues from low- stakes gambling. Once known for notorious characters such as Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane and wild, drunken gambling, Deadwood is now a "respectable" place to gamble in slot machines and card games. Unfortunately, except for a Burger King and Taco Bell Express, all the eateries on Main Street all offered slot machine gambling in the front and some tables in the rear. We ended up at the 1903-vintage Fairmont Hotel, which has a restaurant separate from any gambling. The hotel is an historic landmark, and like the rest of the city is being restored. The former Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley RR station is still standing in downtown Deadwood, and serves as the city's visitor's center. The FE&MV is perhaps more commonly recognized as the CNW's Cowboy Line across Nebraska. If I recall correctly, the branch to Deadwood left the CNW mainline at Whitewood. The CB&Q also reached Deadwood, via their route from Edgemont through the Black Hills. (This route, south of Hill City is the bike and hiking trail I mentioned earlier. North of Hill City I believe the line followed what is now South Dakota Route 17). The CB&Q depot was torn down several decades ago. The other detour we took that increased our daily mileage was to Devil's Tower in northeast Wyoming. In 1916 Devil's Tower was designated the country's first National Monument. I suspect most easterners didn't know about it until it became the landing site for aliens in the 1979 movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." I know I didn't. As we drove into the site, I couldn't help but wonder how many people were there because of the movie. However, the official books and brochures for sale in the visitor's center didn't mention the monument's staring role. We returned to I-90 at Moorcroft where the BN line from Alliance begins to parallel the highway into Gillette, a distance of about 25 miles. There were plenty of trains to see, though half were stopped in sidings waiting for crews. TIME DIRECTION LOCATION REMARKS 1642 Eastbound Moorcroft stopped, coal 1647 Eastbound Rozet stopped, coal 1649 Eastbound MP 584.4 stopped, coal 1653 Eastbound Clovis Point Mine outbound coal train 1654 Eastbound Wyodak Road general merchandise 1705 Westbound Gillette, Skyline Drive local We arrived at our hotel just after 5:00 p.m. I took off in the car to see what I could find at the north end of the Powder River Basin. From the hotel desk I obtained a map of local roads that marked the mines and showed the railroad tracks, including mine access tracks and loading loops. Just before 6:00 p.m. I arrived at East Cabbalo Junction just as a loaded coal train headed south. I took a photo of a train on the loading loop at the Cabbalo mine. There was no train at the adjacent AMAX Belle Ayr Mine. With no immediate prospects for additional trains, I headed east and north on Bishop Road. This road traveled through territory were "buffalo roam and deer and the antelope play." There are warning signs on the road stating "open range," and I did find some deer near the road. In the desolation I was able to make good time back to the BN mainline at Rozet. I don't want to admit how fast I was going, but had I had cab signals I "could" have gone faster. At Rozet I photographed the stopped coal train sitting there. It was a back-lit shot, but backbit shots of long trains can be impressive. I then went to MP 484.4 (that is the name of the siding, towns are few and far between in this part of the country), and while there an eastbound train with three SD70MACs passed the stopped train. I then had to head back to the hotel to meet the family for dinner. Not a bad 100 minutes of railfanning, especially considering that I covered 60 miles and made three lengthy photo stops. FRIDAY, JULY 22: GILLETTE - YELLOWSTONE (350 miles) Downey Creek Junction is where the Powder River line meets the Alliance to Billings mainline. Crossing over the junction is a two- lane road that was probably U.S. 14/16 before I-90 was built. It is a great place from which to photograph the almost endless parade of trains. I woke up early so I could take some photos before departing on the second leg of the journey to Yellowstone. The light is best from approximately 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. I was immediately distracted from my intended destination because stopped on the tracks near the hotel was a CWEX coal train with SD70MACs in perfect light. I took a few roster shots of the three locomotives (9421-9465-9464) and then some additional detail photos of 9421. Then I high-tailed it east on I-90 to the Wyodak exit, which is located two miles east of Downey Creek Junction. Wyodak is the site of the largest air-cooled steam-electric power plant in the U.S. As I got to Downey Creek Junction, which is listed in my Rand McNally atlas as Donkey Creek (I'll have to double check my photos in two weeks), there was an empty train of BN coal cars slowly heading north. From the east I could see the headlights of a westbound coal train. From the junction you can also see the approach tracks to the Clovis Point mine, and there was an outbound train there. At 7:35 a.m. the westbound train of empties came by, and turned into the Clovis Point mine. The northbound train immediately followed it, departing the junction at 7:45 a.m. By this time I could hear another westbound train approaching. I hoped this train would turn south, a move that would photograph better. I was in luck. The train was headed by SD70MACs, and did turn south. This was at 7:50 a.m. No sooner had this train cleared the junction than the waiting train from Clovis Point came out onto the mainline and proceeded east. It passed my location at 8:03 a.m., three minutes after the time I'd said I would be back at the hotel. On my drive back I saw two more eastbound doublestack trains at Wyodak and East Gillette. We left town around 8:45 a.m., and the coal train near the hotel was still sitting there. Heading west, the BN and I-90 take different routes to reach Sheridan. Just north of Sheridan, in Ranchester, we were going to get on U.S. Route 14 for the remainder of the journey to Yellowstone. The traffic jams on the BN even occur up here. I saw two stopped eastbound trains. One had a set of engines that use natural gas. The other train was a coal train that had been split into four sections so as not to block the grade crossings in Ranchester. I thought that would be the end of my railfanning for a few days, but luck was with me. We stopped for lunch in Greybull, which is located on the BN's line from Casper that follows the Bighorn River. The drive through the Bighorn National Forest, by the way, is very beautiful. There are signs along the road indicating the age of some of the rock outcroppings. The oldest rocks we saw were 2.3 billion years old. "Wow, that's a lot older than dinosaurs," exclaimed Matthew. Shell Canyon, on the west side of the forest, is impressive. Anyhow, as we got out of our car in Greybull I heard the distinctive "whoosh" of air brakes being released. I looked towards the end of the road a block away, passed the "flag of flowers" and saw a GP39M moving through the small yard. After lunch I noted a train in the northern section of the yard. Upon closer inspection I saw that one of the two engines was one of the Metro-North Commuter Railroad U23s (no. 805, still in MNCR paint) that the BN had recently obtained. There was a southbound train heading into the yard. As I was getting ready to take a photo of the U23, it began to head north. We raced ahead of the train and I was able to get a decent photo of it, and train- mate no. 7843, as the train crossed under U.S. 14. We followed the train briefly up the Bighorn River Valley so I could get a photo of the train against the colorful bluff on the east side of the valley. This local even had a working caboose! Then it was on to Yellowstone. We passed through Cody, where a branch of the BN still goes, but we didn't see any more trains. But there were some interesting sights, nonetheless. One resident had mounted a toilet bowl high on a pole by the driveway; a sign pointed to it that read, "junk mail." The "town" of Emblem listed its population as 10. Despite its diminutive size, it rated its own zip code. SATURDAY, JULY 23: YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (107 miles) It is perhaps ironic that the most beautiful portion of this journey receives such treatment. However, were I to fully describe what we saw during our stay in the first National Park, this tome would at least double in size. We stayed in a cabin associated with the Lake Lodge in the "Lake Village" section of the park. Yellowstone Lake is the largest mountain lake in the U.S. Its elevation is 7,733 feet, it has 110 miles of shoreline encompassing a surface area of 136 square miles. The roadways in Yellowstone Park are laid out in a "figure 8," with the two loops designated the Upper Loop and the other the Lower Loop. Lake Village is lies on the Lower Loop, and on Saturday we confined our travels to that loop. In the morning we took a guided tour along a portion of the lake, and then drove to the Geysers around Old Faithful. We had lunch in the Old Faithful Inn, the largest timber structure in the U.S., and spent a few hours exploring the numerous thermal features in the area. We then continued clockwise along the Lower Loop. In Hayden Valley we encountered a herd of bison comprised of 39 adults and 11 calves. Hayden Valley is home to most of the park's bison. We had seen a few bison at various other places in the park, including the field in front of the Lake Lodge where we ate. This herd was a real thrill, especially for Matthew who was working on his "Junior Ranger" requirements. On Saturday evening I sat on the front porch of the Lake Lodge and watched darkness fall. Mother Nature put on a wonderful show. A full moon rose over the eastern portion of the lake while a thunderstorm approached from the west. SUNDAY, JULY 24: YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (110 miles) On Sunday morning our first visit was the Yellowstone River Grand Canyon. In two spectacular waterfalls the river drops several hundred feet. The lower falls have a vertical drop 308 feet, and there is a path leading to a vantage point near the base of the lower falls. You are literally in the canyon here, and after walking back up the 328 steps and long inclines, your legs remind you that you were down in the canyon. We continued north into the Upper Loop through Dunraven Pass, and into Mammoth Hot Springs. The park headquarters are located here. Yellowstone had been administered by the U.S. Army from 1886 until 1918. (The National Park Service was established in 1916). Many of the administration buildings date from the era of Army control, and they have a "distinctive" Army-base look about them. The parade ground is still largely intact. The Mammoth Hot Springs themselves are fascinating, though the activity level a bit less than in recent years. On the return trip to Lake Village we again saw a number of Buffalo herds in Hayden Valley. A front of thunderstorms was approaching from the north, and I tried to get some shots of the green valley with the black skies in the background with lightning bolts. I don't think I was successful, though the scenery was still spectacular. We "officially finished" our stay in Yellowstone with a meal at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. The Northern Pacific RR had a large stake in the construction of the hotel in 1889, but sold its interest in 1903. The original NP architecture was replaced by a more Southern colonial style. The NP heavily promoted Yellowstone Park as a tourist destination. easily reached from the Livingston, MT, station. Even Amtrak's North Coast Hiawatha timetables noted that the park could be reached from Livingston. MONDAY, JULY 25: YELLOWSTONE - GREEN RIVER (323 miles) The morning began with Ann and Matthew going to the Yellowstone Lake shore to see wildlife. They hoped to see some animals drinking as well as pelicans eating. No animals were drinking, but there were some pelicans. The early morning excursion was made complete when just before 7:00 a.m. a bald eagle left a nearby tree, circled them a few times, and headed off into a less populous part of the park. We left Yellowstone via the south entrance which leads directly into the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway and the Grand Teton National Park. The Tetons rise sharply from the valley floor with no foothills. The drive along the wooded Jackson Lake and the meadows associated with Cottonwood Creek and the Snake River was breathtaking.