Eivind:

It will be fun to meet you in person - your friend Peer is a real kick, and it will be great to see how well you are able to keep up with him! Peer is coming too, right?

It will be fun to meet you too Joe. Peer landed yesterday. So he will be there and greet us when we land.

The time for departure as come. This morning at 09.00 I was picked up by car by the two fellows I am traveling from Trondheim, Norway. Our flight a Dash 8 – Q 400 left Trondheim Airport Værnes at 12.10 and a little after 14.00 we arrived at Copenhagen Airport Kastrup and meet up with the two other traveling from Oslo, Norway.

We arrived in Chicago at 17.00 and after clearing customs and getting our luggage we met up with the last guy (He left a day early). Upon Arrival at Rochelle we checked in to our hotel before getting something to eat. Afterwords we went to Rochelle Railroad park, where we catched an eastbound UP freight with an engine in front and one trailing. It was a short train consisting of around 30 cars for different use.

Now I am at Super 8 in Rochelle, Il relaxing a little bit after the trip.

Tomorrow we will travel to Lincoln, Nebraska. We will drive on US-30. Tips for great railfanning spots are very welcomed. It includes layouts as well.

For me the travel went smooth with a lot of reading and a movie on the transatlantic flight. I also did some writing on the plane.

Today the day started at Rochelle Railroad Park. We were there for a couple of hours watching trains. There was some trains passing on both lines. But mostly on the BNSF line. A local BNSF train come passing trough the crossing on its way west. A couple of hours later it returned and switched the interchange with UP before heading back east.

We then headed for Clinton, IA where we stooped at an old depot where a local UP trained rolled by and a newly painted BNSF engine stood on a track a little further away from us. We then headed up to UP's yard in Clinton where we watched a little bit before heading for Norway, IA. For me as a baseball-fan it was amusing to see that their welcoming sings welcomed you to a baseball-town.

We managed to see a UP intermodal when we were there to. Just when we were about to start the long drive to Lincoln, Ne. During this drive I just most of the time reading The Hobbit. I also managed to get an hour of sleep. I still haven't adjusted to the American time zone. As of writing the time in Norway is around 6.30AM and in Lincoln it is around 11.30PM.

Tomorrow we are going to visit Bailey yard in North Platte.

Eivind ... love to see blog posts that chronical railfanning and vacation travels ... keep it up! Post a summary of each day, feels like we're "there" with you.

Today the main goal was The Golden Spike Tower in North Platte, NE.

We started out from Lincoln where we drove almost directly to North Platte, but with a little stop at BNSF Hobson Yard. At the Tower we had our lunch while watching the action in the yard. After being there for a couple of hours we headed down to the souvenir shop.

Before driving on US-30 alongside the UP's main line to Grand Island, NE. We saw a lot of mixed trains, unit coal trains and intermodal trains.

UP 7144 leading a mixed train (I belive) in front of a former SP unit.

UP4941 leading a train of autoracks.

For me as a civil engineer student watching building and bridges is as fun as watching trains. There was particulary bridge that we saw pass over the UP line that I think was interesting. I think I might model it.

In Grand Island we managed to see a UP train and a BNSF train cross at the flyover.

We ended the day with a great dinner at a local restaurant.

Today is 4th of July. There had rained a lot during the night but at dawn it had stopped. We dropped by the flyover again, and what did we see to trains crossing today also.

We then continued on US-30 to Omaha, NE. Still following the UP main. In Omaha we visited the downtown passenger depots before heading out to Kenefick Park to see the DD – 40 Centenniel and Big Boy.

Me in front of the BigBoy

Afterward we had a rainful journey to Kansas City, KS. Here we ate at Applebees. There was to much rain for us to stay out and watch the fireworks.

Not much to say about today. I took a day of from railfanning, just relaxing at the hotel. In the evening we all went for some shopping at the mall.

Did you go up in the tower - is there a charge to do so?

Yeah, we went up in the tower it's a $7,00 charge to get up there. You had a good view. But a lot of the action happened in the distance, so to bring a pair of binoculars would be a smart thing to do.