After the Oregon Trail, Nuckolls Co. commerce followed the railroads

Members of the Nuckolls County Historical Society held their annual meeting, Sunday, in Pioneer Hall, on the museum campus in Superior.. Society members and guests were present. Richard Schmeling, a Superior native and Lincoln resident, gave a presentation on the history of Nuckolls County railroads. He also donated a train schedule board, which was accepted by Nancy Meyers, museum curator. The board once adorned the wall of a Superior Burlington depot. Schmeling saved the board for posterity when the building it was stored in was slated to be burned as a training exercise for the Superior Volunteer Fire Department.

Steve Renz, co-chairman of the museum board, called the meeting to order. He introduced the current members of the museum board: Alfred Hansen, Camie, Kroeger, Dave Frey, David Healey, Esther Martin, Fred Meyers, Gwen Johnson, Janice Fullerton, Kelly Bouray, Lori Meyers, Marty Pohlman, Nancy Meyers, Rob Williams, Ron Schott and Steve Renz.

The minutes from the March 31, 2019 meeting were read and approved. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no annual meeting in 2020.

The financial reports from 2019 and 2020 were accepted by the board.

The board expressed their appreciation for the dedicated service of past board members Darlene Peterson, Jean Keifer, Kelly Schroer and Loetta Pedersen.

Schmeling, who has authored books and articles on transportation related subjects including the Ideal Cement plant rail line, presented a program on the history of railroads in Nuckolls County.

The growth of Nuckolls County and its communities was inextricably tied to the arrival of the railroads. Superior would be served by the Burlington, the Santa Fe, the Chicago and Northwestern and the Missouri Pacific.

Nelson was served by the Burlington and Rock Island. Ruskin was served by the Rock Island. Hardy and Bostwick had service bythe Burlington.

The Chicago and Northwestern served Cadams, Nora and Oak.

Nora had rail lines from the C & NW and Rock Island. The Burlington provided rail service in Angus as well as Smyrna.

The Missouri Pacific served Superior, Mt. Clare, Abdal, St. Stephen's and Lawrence. The Burlington also served Lawrence.

The Santa Fe served Superior.

The Ideal Cement plant operated the shortest standard gauge interstate railroad in the United States. It ran from the plant to the limestone quarries in Kansas.

Sedan was served by the St. Joseph and Grand Island Railway, which is now part of the Union Pacific mainline.

The first railroad to traverse Nuckolls County land was the St. Joseph and Denver City Railway. They completed a rail line to Hastings in 1872. This line passed through the town of Coy, later renamed Sedan, and Edgar. The depot in Edgar allowed Superior merchants to have their goods shipped there. Wagons would then deliver the goods to Nelson and Superior. Stock would be driven to Edgar to be loaded on stock trains. Coy was the site of an elevator and a few houses. Sedan is now home to a large elevator which ships out grain in unit trains. Though sparsely populated, Sedan is located on a key segment of the Union Pacific mainline. At its peak, the line would see upwards of 50 trains daily.

Through the efforts of local businessmen and the general manager of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, a branch line was constructed from Lester, east of Red Cloud to Superior in 1880. The line passed through Guide Rock and Bostwick The line continued east from Superior to Wymore. The Burlington and Missouri River became the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad after a series of mergers. The line allowed daily train service through Superior to the east and west and negated the need to haul and ship merchandise to Edgar.

The railroad also supplied Superior with its first jail, a boxcar. It was taken off its wheels and set on the ground. It was frequently moved as lot ownership changed.

In 1886, the Burlington constructed a branch line from Superior, through Smyrna, Nelson, Angus and terminating at Edgar. It was known as the Nebraska and Colorado Railroad.

The arrival of the Burlington spurred the growth of Superior. Grain elevators and mills were built alongside its tracks. Bulk oil facilities were constructed. Passenger service was available from Superior to Denver and points west as well as to Chicago and points east. In 1948, the night passenger trains on the Burlington were discontinued. The last passenger service from Superior ran in February, 1958. Declining numbers of passengers and steep drop off in express freight led to the service being economically unfeasible.

The branch line from Superior to Nelson had its track removed in 1942. Competition from motor vehicles sealed its fate. By the 1970s, the line from Nelson to Edgar was out of service. The line from Edgar to Blue Hill, which passed through Lawrence, was taken out of service later. The opening of the Burlington line in 1886 was not without incident. The first train through Lawrence offered free rides to residents. West of Deweese, the train struck a cow and derailed. Seven passengers and an unknown number of others were injured. The seven dead were buried in the St. Stephen's Cemetery.

Lawrence was once served by two passenger and freight trains daily.

Hardy and Bostwick tied their growth to the railroad. Both towns had grain elevators.

The Burlington went through several iterations over the years. It is now the BNSF Railway. The line between Superior and Wymore is but a memory. Flooding and storm damage doomed the line. A short section of track east of Superior has survived. It is now the Superior Industrial Lead. The line between Red Cloud and points west has also been severed. The BNSF primarily runs empty trains from the south through Superior to Hastings. A local serves the area twice weekly. Loaded unit grain trains are .sent south from the Agrex and Superior East elevators. Superior remains a busy rail center, though it is no longer one of the busiest in the state. It is the part of the Powder River Division of the BNSF. No traces remain of the former passenger station.

Superior was once served by mainline passenger trains equipped with Pullman sleepers and diners. In later years, service was provided by doodlebugs, a single unit or equipped with trailing cars, which combined passenger and freight functions.

The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, or the Rock Island, was a so-called granger railroad. Its primary customers were farmers shipping their crops to markets. Ruskin, Nora and Nelson were served by the Rock as it was affectionately referred to. The branch line emanated from Fairbury, a Rock Island division point. The line reached Nelson in 1887. The train yard was located where the Lawrence-Nelson High School now stands. The yard boasted a depot, where passengers could board a train for Kansas City. It had a turntable, water tower and engine house. Passenger service was discontinued in the late 1920s because of declining revenue. The line to Ruskin was removed later.

The Rock Island featured in an infamous chapter in Nuckolls County history. On July 14, 1887, Nelson residents learned the body of Henry Sallen, a well-respected farmer, had been found on the road outside town. He had been known to be carrying the proceeds from a hog sale earlier in the day. A suspect, John Conrad, a cook with the Burlington construction crew, was tagged as the guilty party. He was arrested at his residence and taken into custody. He was found guilty by a coroner's jury. His trial was set for July 19. Conrad never made it to his trial. A mob of residents stormed the county jail. They placed a rope over Conrad's neck and escorted him from the jail. He was forced to march to the Rock Island Railroad bridge across Elk Creek. The rope was tied to the track. Conrad was pushed off the bridge. Gravity took care of the rest. The Nelson bound morning train discovered the hapless Conrad and cut is body down. He was buried the same day in the Nelson Cemetery. No legal action was taken against any members of the impromptu justice committee. In 1890, it was discovered that Conrad's body had been exhumed and the head detached. A man claiming to be a phrenologist, (one who studies the skull shape as to mental ability), was giving lectures in Nelson. Several months later, the same phrenologist displayed a skull with the description of being that of a "murderer, a man of low intellect and brutal instinct." Some later reports indicate the wrong man may have been lynched.

The Rock Island declined through the 1970s. A long battle to merge with the Union Pacific was ultimately unsuccessful. In 1980, a federal bankruptcy judge ordered the railroad liquidated. Ironically, the Union Pacific now operates more Rock Island trackage than it would have under a merger. The coveted Chicago to Omaha line is now operated by the Iowa Interstate Railroad.

The Santa Fe Railway actually owned no property in Nebraska. It entered Superior, in 1888, over tracks owned by the Chicago and Northwestern from the state line southeast of Superior. The Santa Fe line was built north from Emporia where its connects to the Santa Fe main line connecting to Chicago to the east and the west coast. The line saw heavy traffic from Superior. The Superior Cattle Company shipped car loads of cattle. Passenger service was curtailed in the 1930s though passengers could connect to the famed Santa Fe streamliners at other points. The Santa Fe has kept its physical plant in excellent condition over the years. Today, the Santa Fe is part of the BNSF. The line continues to see heavy freight traffic south in the form of grain trains originating at the two Superior elevators capable of loading unit trains. The line remains in excellent physical condition, with the exception of the Valley View and Bloom Street rail crossings. Bridge replacements, welded rail and tie replacement projects have kept the line up to the highest physical level.

The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad (the Cheap and Nothing Wasted line as it was informally known) arrived in Superior from the northeast. It was originally constructed as the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad. The line passed through Oak, crossed the Little Blue River, went south through Cadams to Superior. The town site of Cadams was plotted by the railroad. It was named for Clare Adams, a Superior banker. Cadams prospered into the early 20th century. It boasted a bank and several businesses. The automobile led to the downward slide of Cadams. The town never recovered from the Great Depression. A grain elevator and lumber yard flourished for many years.

The Chicago and Northwestern prospered in Superior. The company constructed a roundhouse. They employed a sizeable labor force to maintain their equipment and that of the Santa Fe Railway, with whom they worked closely. The two railroads transferred large volumes of freight among themselves.

Passenger service between Superior and Fremont continued on a daily basis until the mid 1930s. Business began to decline on the line. The advent of the diesel locomotive eliminated the need for the roundhouse and maintenace crew.

The line was plagued with several issues in the 1960s. The rail was too light to utilize the larger grain hoppers then entering service. A bigger issue was the bridge spanning the Little Blue River at Oak. The bridge washed out once in the 1960s. It was replaced and put into service in the summer of 1969. A few months later, flood waters on the Little Blue washed it away. The Nebraska Railroad Commission ordered the railroad to replace the bridge. The company filed for abandonment of the line instead.

A new Chicago and Northwestern-Santa Fe depot was constructed in superior in 1966. The building remains in service today with the BNSF.

A group of local investors formed the Great Plains Railroad. The group purchased the former C & NW line from Seward to Superior. They replaced the bridge at Oak and made improvements to ensure it would not wash out. The line was to haul local grain. The railroad was in operation for less than a year. It ceased operations on April 15, 1975.

The Chicago and Northwestern was purchased by the Union Pacific in 1995.

The Missouri Pacific Railroad entered Nuckolls County in 1887 from the Warwick. It passed through Superior on its way to Prosser. It crossed the Burlington tracks and ran through Mt. Clare. While the well was being dug for the Mt. Clare depot and water tank, coal was discovered. Abdal was another town on the line.The line continued north to St. Stephen's and Lawrence then on to Hastings. The Missouri Pacific provided stellar freights service from Kansas City to Superior and other Nuckolls County stops. After WW 11, the Missouri Pacific rebuilt the line with heavier rail and new bridges.

The Missouri Pacific was purchased by the Union Pacific in 1980. A series of lawsuits prevented completion of the sale until 1982. The Union Pacific, Missouri Pacific and Western Pacific were all merged. At the time of the merger, the Missouri Pacific was the largest of the railroads by motive power and rail line miles. The Missouri Pacific and its subsidiaries covered a vast swath of the country from the gulf coast to Nebraska. After the merger, the Union pacific removed the rails between Concordia and Hastings. The merger of Burlington and the Santa Fe afforded the Union Pacific traffic rights into Superior. The Union Pacific exercises those rights to service the Agrex elevator.

The Union Pacific has painted one locomotive in the Missouri Pacific livery and one in the Chicago & North Western livery to keep alive the heritage of the railroads.

The railroad is still at the heart of Superior but it is different blood flowing through the town. From its peak of 16 passenger trains a day at one point to none today, the air still echoes the sound of train horns. The jointed rail has been replaced by ribbon rail but the steel wheels still squeal.

The loaded unit trains head south with their hoppers filled with grain for Gulf or west coast ports. Empty coal trains returning to the Powder River Basin for reloading are a common sight. Empty grain hoppers headed for use in other parts of the BNSF system pass through frequently. The local brings up loaded cement hoppers to be unloaded at the Holcim silos west of Superior. The empty hoppers are returned for reloading. Liquid fertilizer is brought up for unloading at Superior East and Nutrien. Occasional trains of wind turbine blades break the monotony of empty hopper trains. The BNSF continues to upgrade the line to Hastings with welded rail.

Though the machines used to move the cargo doesn't have the alluring charm of the steam engines, they are remarkably efficient at moving vast tonnage at low cost.

The BNSF maintains a large supply of track maintenance and repair materials in the Superior yard.

The railroads have been a presence in Superior for 141 years and the prospects are excellent they will remain here for many more years in the future. After all, who doesn't love a train (except when it's sounding its horn at 2 a.m.).