Head West... Big sky country

Day 2

Omaha to  North Platte
280 miles  I 80    headed   west all the  way

Good  food  and  beer in the  motel  bar,  Ron  you  were  a star.. but hey I can't  keep  that  pace of  drinking up,   I  have  a mission  to  fulfill.

I  mentioned coupon books  from the Interstate rest area's  in the  last  blog.. well  the  coupons  can  get you a  room   for less  than  half  price typically   I  paid  around 40  dollars  a night,  for  good accomodation when  the list  price  was as  high as 120  dollars.

Had  a quick  drive  down to Union Station Omaha..  Fantastic Art Deco  Building gleeming in white stone,  bet  when steam  ruled things  were a little  more  grimy.

As normal its  gonna be breakfast on the  road  mid  morning,  so  fresh coffee at the  motel  then I'll spend a bit  longer studying the Big Boy  and Centennial in Kenefic  Park  before  heading  west to  my  first meeting  with a Challenger in Cody Park, North Platte.

Took a  couple  of hundred images, I'm sure many  other  visitors thought  I was  mad taking pics  of  bits of pipes,  strange looking Valves  etc..   But Hey  no  ! 

I'm English  thats  all.

I  try  to  kid  myself that  there is  no  rush  to  get over to  North  Platte,  the plan is  if  the  condition of the Challenger is not  so  good then i'll keep  heading west to Cheyenne and  try and blag  my  way into  UP's steam  shop.......  mmm doesn't sound really  sound  feasable.. Plan B is if  the 3977 is  in good shape then i spend three or  four days  in NP getting a good feel  for the  construction as well as documenting  all  the  details.

Reckon on about a five  hrs  drive  with  a breakfast  stop.. turn up the  radio lets  get  this  road on the show !

Never been to Nebraska before,  but hey I  have the Springsteen album  by the  same  name... Yeh  must  find a coffe shop and see what the regulars  think to Thunder Road  in a thick Northern  english  accent.. could be fun,  dig out a CD  and sing  out  loud .. I  may  need the practice.

Breakfast ..  now  you  will  get  used to  this,  Hash browns , Bacon ,  three  eggs  (easy  over )  Fresh  Juice ,  glass of  water  and   a gallon of strong  coffee.

Next  time I go I  am  going to  mid west I am  taking  a case  of HP  brown sauce  with  me...  Yep I did  look in  every supermarket  not a bottle in sight... In contrast  to up  North in Minnesota  and Canada  where I have  found supplies ... 

It will  be almost  like   the seventies  with trucking  trips UK  to Saudi..  each  Uk  driver had his  own speciality , that   he exchanged for  meals at  each of the  stops used reguarly  by British  truckers .... Hey  its Lorry  drivers  in  my  time !!

Nebraska  is prairie  country, the road is as straight as a die and  the land   rolls on in front of you...  one  big field  really,  some  rain and  according to the  weather channel  chance of thunder storms / tornado's...... mmm never seen a tornado,  come to  think of it its  years  since I saw a good thunder storm, it must be that sheltered little enclave in the north midlands I live in.

Again  I had  done  my homework and looked  at the location of  my prey..  yep 3977 is  visible on Googly earth...  but what  struck  me was the scale of railroad  operations in North Platte.

The  railroad yard is  huge,  must  be  8 miles   by 1 and  half  ( pure  guesswork ).

Will  have to  spend a little  time  exploring..  but  first let me  get  the  introductions  to 3977 out of the way.

Us  guys  can  multi task  just as good as the  girls Ya'know...

for instance .., here I am coming to the end of a 5000 mile  journey  (to see a steam train and a non working  one a that )..  navigating  my  way  through the  streets  and I instantly log into the  memory  any bar  that looks interesting.. yep the  odd steakhouse  too..  couple of motels    and  all  done with the  map  the right  way  up.... easy  !!

Cody Park,  North Platte   as in Buffalo Bill Cody... apparently  this area  was is  base.

Nice layout  trees and a lake , small  zoo with  Bison  wandering about..Hippy  commune,  yeah all  good

But this is the reason for  my trek... very  impressive. .....We Meet at last

Touchdown

Touchdown planet USA Minneapolis 25th May 2009

All pretty cool so far, a decent flight by NWA and a big thanks to my buddy Jel for the ride down to Heathrow...... 4001 miles apparently Heathrow to the Twin Cities.. reckon I will be driving around the same sort of distance of the next couple of weeks or so.

So its grab a car from Avis.. pretty slick quite expensive though.. and round to a motel I have used before near Mall of America.. couple of beers ( well I have a reputation to live down to ! ) food and a good nights sleep before the road trip starts.

Day 1

Minneapolis to Omaha NE

I35 and I80 383 miles according to googlymaps, Pontiac gassed up and ready to go, guitar ( never travel without it ) only just fits in the boot (trunk). but all is good , so headed south down to Des Moines.

Cruise control not working ( prolly me ) but hey these roads are empty by UK standards so it made a nice change to take a cruise.

I must say I do like the fact that the speed limit is the same for all vehicles , keeps traffic flowing nicely and averts the mayhem we have in the UK with trucks at 56 mph and cars at 70.

Daily highlight of any trip to the USA for me is breakfast... pull in at any roadside diner, coffee, Hashbrowns ( can't get them like that in the UK ) more coffee, two eggs, coffee and bacon (plus more coffee). Yep that sets me up every day.

Always ( well midwest anyways) seems like someone is willing to chat, must be my quite thick northern UK accent, most welcome when travelling on my own (otherwise I could go days without speaking to anyone.

Good time to Des Moines... tip 1 for anyone making a road trip in the USA .. they have rest areas on the interstates where you can usually pick up free road maps and coupon books ( more on those later )

Now headed east on I80 and have finally realised that the clock in the Pontiac which was showing 10:18S actually has a compass because now it shows 14:20 E... cool always did navigate like ome old time sea captain.

Always plenty to see when driving in some foreign land the miles just disappear.. some cool radio stations to listen too (I really liked coffe_shop radio , a channel of singer songwriter stuff )

Now I have never seen a real life American steam loco, may as well start of at the top and work my way down... according to the tinterweb, Big Boy 4023 was just off to my right as I crossed from Council Bluffs Iowa into Omaha Nebraska at Kenfic ? Park.

Caught some glimpses of coal trains on the road , must put aside some time to have an hour or two watching.

Lots of railway infrastructure visible as I pass through Council Bluffs BNSF diesels ( nice paint schemes).

Cross over the river and yep high up welcoming all I80 travellers into the state of Nebraska is a very large and shiny Big Boy , the union pacific logo standing out just as bright as the yellow liveried DD40X centennial ... a nice welcome.

This couldn't be easier next sliproad (ramp) hang a right and then first right again is gonna get me somewhere near.. easy ( never been lost in my life ... I might not be in the place I want to be but I always know which direction to head :-) )

Pleasant grounds to Kenefic Park and some nicely laid out steps leading upwards to the UP display..

Not bad first USA steam loco is a Big Boy.. they don't come any bigger than this (or do they )

Very Impressive a great display with a fantastic location looking over the valley towards Council Bluffs.

This trip has been worthwhile just for Day 1.

Go get it.

Still short of info on many aspects of the Challenger and with books and internet sources drawing a blank, something a little extra was going to be on the cards.

I was already planning my summer vacation to take a trip to the USA, when out of the blue I was offered the choice of an alternative position or redundancy... no contest quit the job and see if I can make a full time living from 3D modelling... Yep crazy , but I have belief

Now free from all ties, I am making that US trip and plan on finding the Challengers.

The remaining Challengers are at North Platte in Nebraska and Cheyenne Wyoming about 220 miles between the two .

3977 is at Cody Park in North Platte. and having seen the state that park exhibits can get into in the UK, I am not going to hold my breath about its completness or condition although Flckr pics seem to show it in good condition.

3985 is part of UP's Heritage fleet based at Cheyenne, This may be difficult to get the kind of up close and personal attention that I need .

With that sorted and a NWA ticket to one of my favourite areas of the US ..Minneapolis all set to leave on the 25th May.

The day before I leave, I actually switch on the TV ( a very rare occurence ) and literally trip up over a MegaMovers program documenting the move of Big Boy 4023 in Omaha Nebraska... now that has got to be on the route some where.

This could turn out to be some road trip and wonder what other interesting US railroad finds there are to be had in the midwest?

Seek and you will find....... maybe

Creating a convincing looking model requires good references, lots of detail pictures and hopefully some good drawings.

A not so quick trawl through the net found a few sketches and the core dimensions plus a large selection of images, mostly of the UP heritage fleet's 3985.

Although some very good shots were available they were mostly general views and not close ups of the very many detail fittings that seem to adorn every inch of the beast.

Now if this was a still extanct UK prototype it would be a matter of grabbing the camera and shooting a thousand or so digipics, however only two Challengers (plus a tender) left in the world and they were four and a half thousand miles away.

Plan B --- Books

There are some absolutely amazing books available in the UK , I strongly recomend checking out such titles as the NRM produced series on LMS locomotives by Hunt, Jennison,James, and Essery....... fantastic resources packed full of detailed engineering drawings, exactly the kind of stuff I need.

In fact give me a couple of million or so and I reckon I could make a real one from these kind of details.

Back to the web search for books one title stood out...The Challenger Locomotives by Wm.Kratville.

Not available in the UK no secondhand copies floating around so its gonna be an expensive order to be shipped from the USA.

The weeks dragged on and on but can't sit idle, from the basic information I had ---wheelbase driver size etc, and some good square on shots I made a start with the motion, thinking that it can be tweaked and rescaled later in the day, Also roughing out the loco it gave an appreciation of how many small details would need to be added if this model was to finish up with the "Busy" externals of the prototype.

April turned to May and eventually the "Challenger Bible" landed through my door.

mmmm nice book not as thick as anticipated, no nitty gritty detail drawings.

All good information and important but still need to find out just how is the exhaust piped from the front cylinders to the smokebox ? and many other details.

Now where did they hide those remaining Challenger's -

How did I get into this ?

Seems a long way back, but in reality it is little more than 18 months since I first attempted to get to grips with a 3D modelling program..

Some success and although looking back my first attempts are more than a little embarrasing, with the help and guidance from (you know who you are ) , confidance is high and looking for a challenge.

Discussions with various parties about the unwillingness to tackle complex models, and in particular the lack of USA steam in Rail Simulator gave rise to consideration of what would make the best subject?

Everybody has heard of "Big Boy" but in reality there were only 25 made and all ran pulling heavy freight on one stretch of line... hardly flexible.

On the other hand Big Boys smaller brother the "Challenger" was much more numerous, covered a wider geographical area, was a genuine mixed traffic engine used on passenger trains as well as heavy high speed freight.

As a bonus UP still operates No 3985 as part of their heritage fleet and is the worlds largest operating steam loco.

Subject Chosen !!!