Nothing in North Platte

Well, if we found very little to do in Lincoln, we found even less in North Platte, Nebraska.  The list of things to see is very short.  Basically, it is either the home of Buffalo Bill (been there before) or going to the Golden Spike Tower. We had to do SOMETHING!  Our Wifi through Sprint was non-existent, so we couldn't even access the Internet to check email or update the blog.  We were down to one choice....guess where we went?

This tower gives you a panoramic view of the world's largest train yard.   Although this is something that normally wouldn't arouse my interest.  But as they say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do".  In North Platte, people must pass the time by going out and looking at the trains.  Who knows?  There sure isn't anything else to keep them occupied!   At least I can maintain a 5 minute discussion on trains now that I've been there, something that I couldn't do before.

Here is a view from the tower, where 10,000 cars are handled each day, 365 days a year.  The yard is 8 miles long and 2 1/2 miles wide and their diesel shops repairs 750 engines each month.  The yard itself covers 2850 acres.   

Oh, did I forget to mention the corn maze?  That we didn't know about that until we were up in the tower.  

I did find some interesting pictures from the past on the wall.  To me, these were more interesting than the miles of trains sitting in Bailey yard.  The picture below is a box car part of the Gratitude Train.  After WWII, Europe was devastated and the American people sent over 40 million dollars of aid.  The French people at that time were so taken with this gesture that they loaded a box care of all things French for each state.  The goods were distributed at each capitol in the U. S.  I bet this was the last time the French  thought highly of us "ugly Americans"!  It has been many years since they've had anything except contempt for us.  We sure wouldn't see them doing anything like that nowadays!

 

There also was a huge board about orphan trains.  During the late 1800's, there were thousands of orphans on the streets of New York, surviving on their skills as pickpockets, prostitution and selling newspapers.  A young priest saw their plight and started the Children's Aid Society with the help of affluent businessmen.  He thought there was a better chance for the children to live on farms, so in 1854 the first group of 54 boys was sent to Michigan.  Associates would go out ahead of time to advertise and help organize placement of the children into rural families.  In 1872 a series of Baby Trains were loaded with infants and small children to be placed with families who agreed to raise them in the Catholic Faith.  Between 1850 and 1910, an estimated 200,000 children were placed out in the countryside.  The board stated that all the children on the Titanic who lost their parents were sent out on these trains.

At least now I know a little more about trains and the part they took in our American history.  I just hope I can retain that information.  After all, there are times when I  lose my "train" of thought and can't remember where we were the previous week!