Roca and Hickman
The BNSF 5370 and it's G-BNDARK1-23 train glide down the high iron and concrete ties of the St. Joe Line at Roca, NE.
Roca, NE is a tiny town south of Lincoln known mostly for it's local berry farm. The BNSF main is down to single track here. The end of double track comes at Saltillo, and double is regained at Hickman for a short while. The combination of this lines north-south orientation and it's fairly scenic location make the St. Joe a prime candidate for photography. Also, the volume of traffic combined with the St. Joe's mostly single track design make it quite a bottleneck at times.
The afternoon of 2/10/02 finds BNSF 8899 and it's train of loaded KCLX hoppers rolling by the Hickman, NE section gang quarters. A fairly thin layer of snow is on the ground at this point, and it is quickly melting away.
Hickman is home to BNSF maintenance crews who maintain this very critical section of track. If something goes wrong on the single track between here and Saltillo, they must respond quickly or risk delaying many trains. Just south of my location in the above picture, the line swings east on a gentle curve, crosses a county highway, and hits the switch back to double track and up the new line relocation to Firth.
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All contents Copyright Nick Suydam 2001