The quick passage of the Union Pacific’s Big Boy Locomotive through Nuckolls County illustrated how times have changed.
Big Boy is one of the 25 largest steam locomotives ever built and the last one in operating condition. Built to haul loads over the western mountains during World War II, the locomotive pulled a token few cars this week when it clipped the northeastern corner of Nuckolls County as part of a goodwill tour.
For those of us who like steam locomotives, we consider ourselves privileged when we have opportunities to see the railroad’s heritage fleet. The big steamers are stored and maintained at the railroad’s Cheyenne, Wyo., shop. And the Nuckolls County community of Sedan is on the route the big engines often take when they leave Cheyenne and head east or south on a good will tour.
I’m amazed by the metal working skills of the craftsmen who built the engines. A century ago those skills were common. Many of their creations may not meet today’s energy efficient standards but they were built to last. While much of this newspaper’s equipment built in the late 19th century and early 20th century is seldom used, it is still in working order and will remain that way if properly serviced.
And service is one of the reasons why locomotives like the Big Boy are no longer in regular use. Steam locomotives had to be stopped frequently to take on water and have their bearings oiled.
When the Santa Fe and Northwestern railroads were operating steam engines on their lines serving Superior, they maintained an engine servicing shop with at least two employees. When a Burlington line connected Superior with Edgar, the engine used on that line returned to Superior every day and parked in an engine house located north of the Farmers Union Mill. While the off-duty engine was parked in the engine house, I suspect the house was built to provide shelter for the men who serviced the engine and not for the comfort of the engine.
A windstorm destroyed the engine house and damaged a truck the Farmers Union had stored inside.
In 1949, fire destroyed the C&NW round house which was located approximately where the Agrex elevator is today. This newspaper has been trying to assemble a story about the C&NW round house and would like to publish a picture of the structure. Unfortunately, none of the railroad fans we have talked with have a pre-fire picture of the engine house. And so I issue a plea to the readers of this column. If you have pictures of the C&NW’s Superior engine house this newspaper would like to have for a few minutes to scan and make a copy,
We often refer to the structure as a round house for railroad engine houses were often round, but it may have been a rectangular structure like the one the CB&Q used when servicing engines in Superior.
Locomotives like Big Boy and the Goss Community press used to print this newspaper were not built with the potmetal and plastic so often used in today’s products. Neither did they sealed bearings.
I recently asked a service technican to visit our shop and tune up the laser printers we use regularly. He came in and looked at our equipment and said it was so old we should buy new printers with the new fangled features. But the new printers and gizmos he suggested will not do what we need our printers to do.
I shared the story of my printer serviceman experience with a woman we buy printer supplies from. She said the printers we were using were much better built than the new ones the serviceman wanted to sell. She suggested where we might find the needed parts.
Her conversation prompted me to go to the internet in search of parts. If I found what I was looking for, I expected the company would be several states away. I was surprised to find a company in Lincoln, Nebraska, that specializes in rebuilding laser printers. I expected I would need to take our printers to Lincoln, but thought that doabl The receptionist transferred me to the service department and I described our problems, received instruction on what should be done and was able to purchase the needed parts. The parts arrived the next day and the printers are now back in operation.
I’m not sure how long they will last for they are mostly made of plastic which gets brittle as it ages.
That’s not to say all new technology is bad.
Last week a federal agency asked for documents associated with my father-in-law’s death. It would have taken days, perhaps weeks for the postal service to deliver the documents and postage may have exceeded $20. Before the day was over, I had scanned the requested documents, transmitted them via the internet and gotten a reply back listing other documents the agency needs.
We must accept the fact that technology is both good and bad and make the most of it.
At church Sunday morning I was monitoring the cell phone being used to broadcast the morning service around the world. It was exciting to see how many people outside the confines of the church building were watching.
I’m not aware we had anyone for the recent service but the week before we had least one person in the parking lot listening to the service that was being broadcast via a lower-power radio system. That individual was not feeling up to par and didn’t want to enter the building and so chose to stay in the parking lot and listen to what was going on inside the church building.
But on the flip side, the storm which crossed through this area a few hours before the service may have caused an electrical problem which shut off the church well. Fortunately, the church yard still contains the old WPA facility many affectionately call an “Eleanor.” The Eleanor may be more than 80 years old but it still works as designed, though it is in need of an emptying. Volunteers are welcome to apply for that job.
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