What I have done recently is have my scanner up on my desk and going while I am not busy doing anything school-related. Today was one of those days, as this was the first day of classes and I only had one class today. At about 3pm, I heard dispatch give a local a speed restriction on the BNSF Ravenna Sub at milepost 20.4. The closest possible railfan spot to me on the Ravenna Sub is MP 8.1, which is Emerald, NE. I figured I could beat this thing to Emerald, so I got in the car and rushed my way down to Emerald. I paced an empty coal train all the way there and got out of the car with 20 seconds to spare at the 91st Street crossing near Emerald:
It did not take long for a manifest stopped in the distance to get moving, with a coal train having just stopped on the other main. I decided to stay put at 91st Street and not go any farther West away from Lincoln, as it is a Monday after all. It was also nice to see an executive schemed SD70MAC trailing, as these are on very borrowed time.
I decided to ditch the stopped coal train in the distance and head back East towards Lincoln, as I needed gas anyway. After filling up my car, I heard the UP Lincoln-Valley local call something out on the radio, so I figured I may as well go to the 1st Street crossing in Lincoln, as I had a slight chance of catching it. Spoiler alert, I did not catch it. I did, however, snap a LOT of photos of an empty coal train heading West into Carling Yard in Lincoln:
And I ended my day off with a light engine movement going down the St. Joe Sub, which I had heard at a detector back when I was at 91st Street. I did not catch the milepost, but I heard 12 axles:
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~Matt
