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America’s Shortest Interstate Railroad by Richard L Schmeling The Believe It or
Americas Shortest Interstate Railroad by Richard L Schmeling The Believe It or Not Railroad
Soft Cover Reflections from the lights on some photos.
80 pages
Copyright 2011
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments4
Introduction 5
Foreword7
Map of the Nebraska-Kansas Railroad 8
Map of the Ideal Cement Plant at Superior, Neb. 9
1. Why Build A Cement Plant at Superior, Neb.? 10
2. A Brief Corporate History 13
3. Cement Making 101: The Basics 14
4. Building and Maintaining the Railroad 17
5. The Quarry: Digging Out the Rock27
6. Railroad Operations 35
7. Motive Power Through the Years43
The Elusive Electric Motor No. 10045
Safely Making the Grade47
The Superior Career of No. 2649
Old No. 97: A Failed Experiment50
8. Maintaining N-K Motive Power56
9. Rock Cars and Other Rolling Stock 61
10. Runaways, Smash-ups and Near Misses65
1 1 . Coping With Snowstorms 68
12. The N-K and Superior's Class I Carriers 69
13. Remaining Traces 75
Locomotive Roster of the Nebraska-Kansas Railroad 79
Bibliography 80
ON THE BACK COVER
The Nebraska-Kansas Railroad was owned and operated by the Ideal Cement Company at its plant near Superior, Nebraska. This small industrial railway, about four miles long at maximum length, crossed the state line from the Ideal Cement plant in Nebraska to the company's rock quarry in Kansas, thus qualifying as an interstate carrier. Hauls of the Nebraska-Kansas Railroad were almost exclusively limestone rock for use in the manufacture of cement at the Superior plant. Its one claim to national fame was for having been the shortest interstate railroad in the United States. This fact was once cited by the well-known "Ripley's Believe It or Not" newspaper feature. Motive power used by this unique rail line had at various times included electric, steam and diesel engines. The Nebraska-Kansas Railroad operated until the end of cement manufacture at the Superior plant in late 1986. Now, using rare photos and informative text, this book recounts how this little rail line had once helped to literally build America.
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