Special thanks to Mark Amfahr for providing the trainsheet and commentary.

Westbound Trains

Here are the westward through trains that operated October 27, 1967 between Co. Bluffs and Columbus.

Westward Through Trains:

Train        Power     Cars / Notes

No. 103 – 903-938B-951B-929, 18 cars

No. 5     – 908-941B-912B, 9 cars

No. 105 – 902-930B-Milw 35c, 17 cars

CK (to Kansas City) – 35-640-639-675

ACK (to Kansas City) – 47-630-638 (note says “picked up 3 meat and added unit 638 at Summit”)

“Mainline Local” (Co. Bluffs to Grand Island) – 702, picked up 3 hogs for LA at Clarks, handled through to Grand Island.

MILW Forwarder / 2 Co. Bluffs Forwarder – 1403-1404-95B

CLS / Rock Island Fwdr – 2804-1407, handled 18 hogs for LA

“Columbus Turn” – 80

“Hoppers, Empties” – 2906-2903

Co. Bluffs Fwdr / Colorado Special / NP Merchandse – 8-8B-720

SP and Lumber Empties – 944-965B-957B-957

Adv. CB Northwest Forwarder / CB Manifest – 757-82B

CNW LASP Fwdr – 84-77B, ran to Fremont with 11 cars, picked up CNW connection at Fremont (conn. from CNW train 249)

1 CB / LASP Fwdr – 80-74B

A few things to note:

– No RRs in this territory were exchanging power with UP at this time on freight trains (i.e., no runthrough power), so all freight power was UP. 

– just one turbine shows up on the sheet, 8 & 8B.

the westward hogs on the CLS train (x2804w) were from: Sioux City & Sioux Falls (13 cars) and So. Omaha (5 cars). Looks like the SC & SF hogs were picked up at Fremont, probably from the CB&Q interchange (a common routing in the 1950s & 1960s). All hogs went to LA except for one carload that was for Portland, OR.

– interesting to see that they still used the “NP Merchandise” symbol on one train (x8w); this indicated the train handled a block of cars for the No. Platte Freight House. As I recall, the freight house at NP was built in 1949 and was shut down in 1969(?), so it would have been in its last years of operation in late ’67. That traffic would have been LCL shipments in boxcars, to be sorted & reloaded at the NP freight house for further movement west or for local truck delivery.

– connections with the CNW at Fremont by UP westward trains were essentially just “pick ups” at this time; UP trains would stop and pick up cars from the CNW yard, then continue to G. Island. The trains that delivered the preblocked cars for UP were CNW trains 249 (priority loads) and 261 (mostly low priority loads & empties). CNW and UP did exchange cabooses/waycars at this time but they wouldn’t start exchanging power for several more years.

– remember that this was before No. Platte was classifying westward traffic, so trains were (mostly) blocked at Co. Bluffs and trains from connecting RRs (like CNW) were supposed to be blocked (e.g., blocks for LA, SP, Pocatello & beyond, Denver, etc). That is why some trains leaving Co. Bluffs still use the older UP symbols showing the blocks they handled (such as “1 CB / LASP Fwdr” being the “First section from Co. Bluffs with blocks for LA and Ogden-SP”). UP’s entire blocking strategy & their train symbols would change when the new hump yard opened for operation in late 1968. After that, westward traffic would move to No. Platte and be blocked there in the westward hump yard. 

– if you compare the east and westward power you’ll see that many units were used on multiple trains (like 80, making 3 trips across the train sheet in one day, and the set of 4 E units coming in on RO and turning back west on the SP Empties train) – nice utilization of power & good turn times.

As mentioned, I apologize if there is an error or two in the information – the writing on the sheet isn’t always readable, some info is my “best guess”. Info in italics was unclear.

Eastbound Trains

Eastward Through Trains:

Train        Power     Cars / Notes

No. 104 – 956-935B-952B-955, 16 cars

No. 6     – 926-934B-963B, 14 cars

No. 106 – 925-956B-Milw 35a, 15 cars including UP business car 103 with “DFW” on board for Omaha.

AKO (from Kansas City) – 640-639-675

KO (from Kansas City) – 49

MILW Perishable & Manifest – 757-35, 6 cattle

“Greeley Meat” / 2RO (from Denver) – 944-965B-959B-957, 8 cattle

Drag – 60

“Columbus Turn” (Columbus returning to Co. Bluffs) – 80

Rock Island Perishable & Manifest – 84-77B, 10 cattle

1 RO (from Denver)- 48-87B-74B

2 Rock Island P&M – 2907-2905, 23 cattle

CNW P&M – 38, set out most of train at Fremont (CNW runthrough connection), ran to Co. Bluffs.

MILW P&M – 3057-724B, 7 cattle

CNW – 2803-2802-2804, 7 cattle, set out most of train at Fremont (CNW conn), ran to Co. Bluffs.

Drag – 3025

That was it for the 24-hour period, not many trains in total.  A few things to note:

– No RRs in this territory were exchanging power with UP at this time on freight trains (i.e., no runthrough power), so all freight power was UP. 

– LOTS of livestock moving; 6 different trains handled livestock eastbound; some went to Valley, some to So. Omaha, some to connecting RRs at Co. Bluffs.

– deliveries to CNW at Fremont by UP eastward trains were essentially just “set outs” at this time; UP trains set out cars for CNW then continued to Co. Bluffs.

– Except for the hotshot “Greeley Meat” / 2RO train from Denver, all trains stopped to work somewhere en-route; most trains stopped at one location, several stopped at multiple stations to set out, pick up, or both. A very different operating pattern vs. today.