Golden Spike Tower, Buffalo Bill & Keith County
📍 North Platte · Keith County, NE
Down the road by 0900. Outdoor stops were ahead and the temps were predicted to hit the high 80s, low 90s.
From the Passenger Seat
As passenger, I get to take photos of everything on the side of the road.
A huge granary and storage facility — we think for corn. Happy to see gas prices going down. Lots of trains out here.
Can’t say I ever thought I’d see Amazon containers on a train. But here they are.
The 100th Meridian — which roughly marks the eastward boundary of the arid plains — passes just west of this town.
And here we are on the very highway we learned so much about at the Archway Museum in Kearney.
Golden Spike Tower & Visitor Center
We were the first rig to arrive. Great RV parking.
The second picture shows parked locomotives — and there were twice that many at Bailey Yard.
A vintage dining car sits on the brickyard out front — currently under renovation.
The Orphan Train
One story I didn’t know about: The Orphan Train.
Over 33,000 orphaned children were sent from New York to homes all over the USA. The terms “family placement” or “out-placement” were used instead of “orphan” — as many children had been abandoned, or families voluntarily signed them away because they didn’t have the money or desire to raise them. 😔
Bailey Yard
Timeline of Bailey Yard:
Bailey Yard is the largest railroad classification yard in the world:
- 17 receiving and 16 departure tracks
- 14,000 rail cars handled every 24 hours
- 3,000 cars sorted daily in east and west “hump” yards
- The hump yard moves four cars per minute — 20 feet west, 34 feet east
- On-site car repair shop, running 24/7/365
A current view of the yard:
I found this Atlas listing routes in Washington state — handled with cotton gloves so the pages don’t degrade.
Some railroad terminology:
Outside, 23 flags represent each state Union Pacific serves — each with a description of the miles of track within that state. In Oregon, the tracks follow the Oregon Trail into the eastern side of the state, over the Blue Mountains.
Buffalo Bill Ranch
We toured the large house — Bill and his wife had four children, three girls and one boy (who died young). The stained glass on the front door, the front parlor, the back porch:
The grounds were so green and beautiful.
We stayed in our parking spot for lunch and saw this. I think it was a photo shoot — Keith thought it was a ceremony.
Ever wonder who poses for these things?
The Wild West Show Barn
The barn held a lot of memorabilia from Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. The first picture shows remains of the original show posters — the colored ones are likely reproductions.
Buffalo or Bison?
How they used every part of the animal:
The real thing — living the good life. Looks familiar to those of us in Surry County… 😉
Keith County!
Riding along, I noticed a little sign: Keith County. 😳 Who knew? When we entered Keith County, we also switched to Mountain Time. Found some fun advertising along the way too.
As we drove, we were listening to one of our favorite podcasts — The Riveted with Chris and Gina. The guest’s advice, passed down from his mother:
“There’s a reason you have two ears and one mouth.”