Railroad, Buffalo Bill and the North Platte Canteen

North Platte, Nebraska, is the home of Buffalo Bill, but even more known as a Mecca for railroad afficionados. We arrived to this city with its 23,000 people on Friday afternoon and spent all Saturday there, touring the city and surroundings. A lot to see in town!

The name may be misleading: the "Golden Spike Tower" in North Platte/Nebraska has nothing to do with the Golde Spike National Historic Park in Promontory, Utah, where 1869 the completion of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States was celebrated. But, also in North Platte, an important chapter of railroad history is written. 

 

The Golden Spike Tower (right) offers the best view of the world’s largest railyard, Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard. Approximately 20,000 railroad cars are sorted and sent on to their next destination every 24 hours on 64 tracks. The place is called a "railroad classification yard", and, it's the largest in the world, covering 2,850 acres, reaching a total length of eight miles. It's impressive (and confusing), and, as if by magic, train cars are separated, sent over a mound and put together again. Great to watch from two platforms on the tower.

 

 

 

 

Sticking with railroad: The flagship of the Cody Park Railroad Museum is the only Challenger 3900 series steam locomotive (photo below) on public display in the world. Number 3977 can actually be inspected inside before walking through a series of old rail cars, including a mail car and a caboose. In addition , there is a 6900 diesel locomotive - the largest ever made. A small museum is located in the Hershey, NE rail depot, and, is equally interesting.

BB - artwork in Prairie Arts Center

Buffalo Bill lived in North Platte on his huge Scout’s Rest Ranch, nowadays a State Historical Park, which consists of his mansion from 1886 as well as barns and other outbuildings. The barn, once used to house horses, now contains a collection of antique carriages that belonged to Buffalo Bill as well as a variety of memorabilia from the days of his world-famous Wild West Show. William Cody (his real name) lived here from 1886 to 1913. He developed a series of “Wild West” vaudeville shows that incorporated rodeo, Indians and cowboys, and, re-enactments of historical events of the American frontier. He went on tour with them world-wide, also performed in Munich in the late 1800s.

BB's mansion

BB's barn

We learned more about the history of the city and the region in the Lincoln County Historical Museum. It encompasses big grounds - an entire village made up of historic structures (right picture) from the Lincoln County area - and a museum with a hotchpotch of historical items, from native culture to the history of this region of the Great Plains.

 

 

Fort Cody Trading Post's (photos below) biggest attraction is Buffalo Bill's Wild West in Miniature, with its 20,000 hand-carved figures. There is an Old West Exhibit and Buffalo Bill memorabilia. In front of the buildings there is an original Muffler Man, an advertising figure, one of only a hundred left in the United States.

The North Platte WWII Canteen is referring to the year 1941, when 26-year-old Rae Wilson organized to welcome the boys of a troop train, stopping in North Platte, with food and gifts for their long journey off to war. For 4.5 years the ladies from North Platte welcomed these young men on trains on their way to war. The Historic Canteen District in downtown North Platte honors this generous act, and, currently, there is a musical being played at the historic Fox Theater. 

Our one and a half days in town were packed, and, we saw so much more than the above-mentioned, e.g. the Prairie Arts Center, with local/regional art exhibitions and were fortunate, that just on this day a competition in forgery (knife-making) - called "Fire on the Prairie" - took place. It was fun to watch three men working for 9 hours to get their knives accomplished.

 

For shopping, the Grain Bin Antique Town is a great recommendation (right photo), for wine the Old Depot Vineyard & Winery (below), where we had great conversation with the owners and a tasting of their wines, produced exclusively from Nebraska grapes .

We had one dinner at Pals Brewing Company (pizza and beer) and a great steak dinner at The Cedar Room. North Platte has three breweries, and, on our second evening we checked out another one: Pegleg Brewery, where we met with the owner/brewmaster and enjoyed good IPAs!