North Downtown Omaha Rail

Zephyr · Post by **Zephyr** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:19 am

While in town last weekend, I was scoping out possibilities for my next model railroad project: the Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railway Corporation, which bought the Illinois Central and Kansas City Southern, so my main line will go behind the Qwest Center.

Map:

Omaha World-Herald press

Heading north

I wonder how this track plays into the North Downtown Plan?

ConAgra Elevator

Concrete plant... are there intermodal containers back there?

Yep.

The old Illinois Central swing bridge, unused since 1988.

A sample of my locomotives... look for these in Omaha soon!

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:40 am

Pretty cool. I used to live over by that swing bridge and wondered if it ever got used.

Zephyr · Post by **Zephyr** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:51 pm

Thanks, DTO. Canadian National (former Illinois Central) now uses the UP bridge, then switches down to the BNSF Gibson Yard, and back up north to reach their facilities up there.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:07 pm

Do those tracks into UP turn around and back out or what. I never noticed that before.

Zephyr · Post by **Zephyr** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 2:29 pm

Which part of the UP track are you talking about? If you mean in North Omaha, I am not exactly sure - I intend to research all the tracks up there further in my next visit. But in the south, but the Burlington Station and the Union Station, the UP mainline runs over BNSF track, and forms a wye, where trains from the east have to cross the track, reverse into the Gibson Yard (just east of the zoo) on BNSF, then pull back forward to get to North Omaha.

DTO Luv · Post by **DTO Luv** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 3:03 pm

Oops. I meant the OWH building not the UP building.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 3:28 pm

I swear I saw a train using that bridge in February when I was taking off from Eppley.

Post by **Brad** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 4:42 pm

I dont think so, this summer when I was boating along the river it looks like there was a bunch of trees grown up the the bridge.

Golden Eagle · Post by **Golden Eagle** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:56 pm

DTO Luv wrote:Pretty cool. I used to live over by that swing bridge and wondered if it ever got used.

Most likely. Looking at some of the docks along Mighty Mo in Sioux City, I am sure it got used very often.

Zephyr · Post by **Zephyr** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 2:04 pm

DTO Luv wrote:Oops. I meant the OWH building not the UP building.

That's a good question, which I don't really have an answer for... yet. I have a friend that works at OWH, so I will try to figure it out. Or perhaps I could even arrange a little tour to watch the delivery process!

Zephyr · Post by **Zephyr** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 8:59 am

Here's a recent Chicago Tribune article about SPSF:

SPSF Goes Global, Buys Out DHL

FatGuy, in most cases, the power source for a streetcar or light rail system is electricity (750 Volts DC), drawing from already existing, or perhaps new, power plants.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 8:47 pm

What does that mean for Omaha?

FatGuy · Post by **FatGuy** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 8:00 am

Thanks Zephyr.

Zephyr · Post by **Zephyr** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 9:05 am

Swift wrote:What does that mean for Omaha?

A new 52-story, 708 ft. regional office tower located east of the Burlington Station with 400,000 square feet of office space and an 875,000 square foot condo-Hyatt hotel development, plus a little private financing for Omaha's first light rail segment.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 11:47 am

woa, seriously?

omahastylee459 · Post by **omahastylee459** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 11:51 am

ok no joking about new skyscrapers on this forum! you have seen the damage that has done before.....

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 11:52 am

I feel I should be skeptical, but at whom I'm not sure! Zepher's got some great stuff going on (welcome back, btw, been a while), but I don't see how Omaha ties into the article beyond a visionary platform.

Zephyr · Post by **Zephyr** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 2:37 pm

almighty_tuna wrote:welcome back, btw

Thanks!

Well, there just happens to be another article on this very topic!

New Regional Office for SPSF Railway

Post by **Brad** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 2:41 pm

Zephyr

I thought of another cool model railroad project that I have thought of doing in the past, and now with the limited space I have it would be a good idea. Model the millard Lumber. UPRR service a few times a week + tank cars passing through to that pacon plant south of Q St. Then If one had more room they could model that big rail car repair shop that you can see from industrial Road.

CountOfMC · Post by **CountOfMC** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 2:52 pm

Did I read that right?

GoWest · Post by **GoWest** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:04 pm

CountOfMC wrote:Did I read that right?

Probably, but check the url as well. That explains everything.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:07 pm

LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

loyalomahan · Post by **loyalomahan** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:15 pm

Zephyr... you're a little late don't you think?

Come on people... I hope you're never asked to provide your personal information online... use the clues provided!

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:17 pm

Post by **Brad** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:19 pm

The SPSF is something that never happened.

The only skyscraper is going to be on zephyr's model railroad of omaha.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:19 pm

Pretty good job on replicating the Times. (The SPSF merger was a failure.)

loyalomahan · Post by **loyalomahan** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:21 pm

swift... take a deep breathe, hold your mouse over that link Zephyr provided, and look at the bottom status bar.

Post by **Brad** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:23 pm

SP=Souther Pacific
SF=SantaFe

The goverment said no to the SPSF merger so The burlington Nothern merged with the SF and the Union Pacific merged with the SP

Zephyr is modeling as if the merger had gone through and actually had tracks in omaha.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:27 pm

damn it. you raise my hopes up only to smash them down again.

OmahaDevelopmentMan · Post by **OmahaDevelopmentMan** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 4:09 pm

Wow, you suck! Very convincing Chicago Tribune Website though. You had me convinced until I looked at the address bar. Its April 14, not the 1st. Comon. Thats twice in 2 weeks I've gotten my hopes up on a joke. Not nice.

Zephyr · Post by **Zephyr** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 11:39 pm

Forgive me... I posted the first article just to show my creativity, but after seeing the response, I couldn't resist making another article. But you've got to admit that progress with the new Burlington Station owners is really dragging slow, and I'd like to see a mixed-use development next door.

I got my idea from Terminal Tower in Cleveland, 52 stories and 708 ft:

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 12:55 am

Zephyr wrote:Forgive me...

For that?...never...Blasphemous. My wife is really going to be upset now after I've already woken her up to tell her about a new skyscraper.

the1wags · Post by **the1wags** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 10:34 am

Man this is some BS! Boo this man!

Finn · Post by **Finn** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 4:04 pm

Did you really think another railroad would outdo the Union Pacific (largest railroad) facility in this economy? -with spec space?????

Anyway, how about for our forum meet we go on a crusade. First, we go to Denver and find Zephyr here:

then to Ames for Tito.

Zephyr · Post by **Zephyr** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 9:13 pm

Good luck - my fortress is surrounded by trains on one side and a raging river on the other!

Zephyr · Post by **Zephyr** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:46 pm

Here's a shot of SPSF #9275 from about where the Grace St. Yard would be.

Post by **Brad** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 1:10 am

Zeypher

Is that Omaha in the background? Let me know next time you are in town, we will have to have a railfan day.

Zephyr · Post by **Zephyr** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 1:40 pm

Brad, yes, that's Omaha - I just placed a photo for the backdrop. The photo was taken in Miller Park, which is very close to where my tracks would be. I'll let you know when I'm in town again; it will probably be in a few weeks and I plan on exploring the area north of downtown in addition to other sites.

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:25 pm

How is it not copyright infringement to COMPLETELY fake a Tribune article like that, with live links and everything????

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:35 pm

And I have to say, contextually, east of the Burlington Station is no place for a 50 story skyscraper.

But, to clarify, I wouldn't turn it away if it were proposed.