Family on the Fourth and Much More!

…continuing with our early July road trip.  We were in Omaha visiting our son and his family in time to celebrate the 4^th of July!

David II and Amy’s home sits on a rise overlooking a big valley in the Elkhorn area of Omaha, with views that go on for miles.  So, the entire family set up chairs on their deck overlooking the vista so that we could all enjoy the fireworks.  Laurie was photographing the action when I took this photo.

Laurie and I both discovered how hard it is to capture a decent photo of fireworks using either a smart phone or a standard issue digital camera.  Sadly, these 2 photos were about as good as we could do…

The valley was blanketed with fireworks activity, some from local governments and organizations but most of the action was due to the efforts and expense expended by local residents.

Got to have family photos, especially after 19 months of absence!  Here are Amy’s parents, Dan and Bonnie, with their grandsons, David III and Emmett Lee.

Then we got this great fun photo of Amy with her 'little' boys…David III and Emmett Lee.

The next day, we hit the road for a bit of exploration.

David II had asked me to put together a list of places we’d like to visit.  I’d listed a number of historic buildings and areas in nearby Lincoln Nebraska, including the Lincoln Station in the Haymarket area of the city.

The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad was the first railroad to come to the new capital of Nebraska.  Burlington collected $50,000 from the county for reaching Lincoln in 1870.  In addition, the State of Nebraska awarded the railroad 2,000 acres of land for each mile of track the railroad built!  Seven other railroads reached Lincoln by 1900, with the city and county paying bonuses that totaled more than $500,000. 

The Burlington Depot, now referred to as the Lincoln Station, was built in 1927.  It was the third Burlington Depot built in the city.  This Neo-classical Revival style building is complemented with attractive long covered passenger platforms on the rail side of the structure.  The covered platforms were built by Omaha-based Peter Kiewit and Sons, now a worldwide construction firm.

The Burlington Depot was renovated and renamed in 1990 by a local family.  It now provides shops, offices and the “Great Hall” in the former depot waiting room.  We visited a very nice antique store located in one end of the old depot.  The Great Hall is now used for weddings, major gatherings and other events.  Lincoln Station continued to provide an office and waiting room for Amtrak until a new depot was completed nearby.

This well maintained steam locomotive is situated in the Bill Harris Iron Horse Park immediately adjacent to Lincoln Station.  Chicago, Burlington and Quincy locomotive 710 was built in the Burlington Shops in the town of Havelock in 1901.  Havelock is now part of the city of Lincoln. 

Locomotive 710 began service by pulling passenger trains.  Later, in the 1920s it was retooled and used as a short-haul freight locomotive.  By the 1950s, the steam era was ending and Burlington refurbished the steam engine and its tender, donating them to the City of Lincoln in 1955. 

I didn’t walk down the street to take a photo of the new Amtrak Station.  Most of these new stations kind of depress me, but in fairness the description of the interior of this station sounds considerably nicer than many.  This depot was completed in 2012, and it is just 3 or 4 blocks from the Lincoln Station.  It is frequently referred to locally as the Haymarket Depot just to distinguish it from the revamped Lincoln Depot.

The Amtrak Depot is served by a once daily train going west from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay area…and another taking the same route east.  The trip usually takes 51.5 hours and at 2,438 miles in length, its Amtrak’s longest daily route. 

Note: Covid-19 and the pandemic didn’t help Amtrak’s struggling levels of ridership.  In 2019, this route handled 410,844 passengers but in 2020, only 247,535 passengers were recorded.

Lincoln is home to another smaller but architecturally impressive railway depot.  Built in 1893, the Renaissance style Rock Island Depot served passenger trains of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad until 1968.  Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the depot is now occupied by a branch of the Union Bank and Trust.

I downloaded this wintertime photo of the old depot which shows how it was situated along the tracks while it was still operating.  Most of the former Rock Island Line trackage in the Lincoln area has been converted to “rail trails”.

That’s it for now.  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave