Trains

Friday, August 6

Hiroshima, Japan, experienced a most horrible day on August 6th, that led to the end of the war with Japan that had already cost thousands of lives on both sides and promised masses to be yet killed, except for that day and the 9th (Nagasaki) which suddenly brought Japan to surrender.

On August 6, Janet and I traveled to North Platte for her 50th HS class reunion.  It was fifty years ago that she graduated from High School, she accepted Jesus as her Savior, and that we met early in September at the junior college there.

We arrived in 100 degree heat to meet my 93-year-old father who was sitting along the railroad tracks awaiting the arrival of the U.P. 4014 Big Boy (the world’s largest steam engine) driven and managed by a personal friend, Ed.  About an hour after arriving, Ed sent an official over to bring Dad and myself through the fence to join him in the cab.  The cab was really hot as it sits just behind a massive firebox fueled by waste oil.  Dad gave the behemoth water, blew her whistle, and sat in the engineer’s seat.  Few people in the entire USA have such a privilege.

Saturday morning we went back to the steam engine and engaged some of the people gathered.  People are really, really interesting – they all have a story and boy did we get some stories!!

Soon Ed was out engaging gawkers and enthusiasts.  He brought us behind the barrier fence and gave us a tour of what they did to bring the massive engine back to life.

It was built in 1941, served mostly around Cheyenne, and was parked in a Los Angeles park about 60 years ago.  In 2014, Ed and his team spent most of a year preparing it for travel back to Cheyenne for a complete, massive overhaul.  They first showed the 4014 as a completed project at the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Golden Spike celebration on May 10, 2019, in Utah.

We ended up on the other side of the Big Boy with the main track just a few feet away and Ed suggested that we pray.  Bearing down on us was an eastbound train that started tooting warning us of his approach.  Ed gave him a signal and we bowed our heads and prayed as those in the cab of the on-coming train watched.  Upon the “Amen”, the train came cruising by just feet away.

We left town Saturday at supper time passing by the Big Boy one more time and buying gas for $3.08.  We traveled Hwy 30 to Cozad and were blessed with a number of train encounters – most with DPU’s (Distributed Power Units – engines buried in the train pushing and pulling).  In Brady, we saw three trains in motion – two westbound and one eastbound – as there are three mainlines.  It was interesting to me how many auto-racks were in the consists (cars that transport automobiles).  I wonder if that is an indication of better days ahead for that industry.

Just east of Grand Island we encountered some rain, nothing significant, but the sky ahead was significant.  The rain went away until just east of Lincoln.  Then at the Greenwood exit the sky opened.  I got in behind a semi-truck thinking that he would bust up any pooling water leaving the roadway a little safer.  All the time the rain was in sheets but we came to Gretna without having to stop.  Nevertheless, it was a volatile storm.  We opened the garage door via electricity and then it went off.  I shut the garage door manually and went to bed.

What a great couple of days!