| Title: |
OZRR 119 |
| Description: |
The main portion of the trip was now on the horizon, but we still had one full day before the conference was finally in full swing. So, being close to Omaha, what better way to spend that than a day at Henry Doorly Zoo? While I, our vicar, and his wife and children had been to the zoo multiple times over the years, none of the kids that were traveling with us had ever been to the Omaha Zoo before. Living in Fort Wayne, and anyone who has been to the Fort Wayne Zoo but maybe not Omahas, imagine it like Fort Waynes but about 3x as big. It is easily one of my favorite zoos in the entire country. While we barely got any sleep the night before, we embarked on our journey to the zoo by early to mid morning and spent the majority of the day there. It was hot, but it was a great visit, and everyone enjoyed themselves a lot. Of course, one of my favorite parts of the zoo is the Omaha Zoo Railroad. the Omaha Zoo Railroad, the railroad was built in 1968, and its main sponsor is the Union Pacific. The route of the ride is meant to be a replica of Union Pacifics section of the original Transcontinental Railroad, featuring many names of locations that were or are located on the Union Pacific system to this day. On my past two visits to the zoo, No. 104 (named Riva) was the locomotive in charge of the days rides. However, this visit, No. 119, the original locomotive built for the zoo in 1968 (and also designed to be a replica of Union Pacifics steam locomotive that was used when the Transcontinental Railroad was finished in 1869), was in charge. The Omaha Zoo Railroad tackles a 6% grade on the north side of the zoo (appropriately named "Sherman Hill"). At the end of the day, I wanted to grab one of the final runs of the day coasting down the hill. Its pretty insane to watch (and ride on!). I main shot that I grabbed the train was crossing the path between the stingray and gorilla exhibits which features a "wig wag" signal (all crossing signals are maintained by UP MOW crews to this day!). It was an awesome visit, and I cant wait to come back! Im glad I got to spend this visit with the people I did, looking forward to the next visit! |
| Photo Date: |
7/7/2025 Upload Date: 9/10/2025 8:04:45 AM |
| Location: |
Omaha, NE |
| Author: |
Jacob Werling |
| Categories: |
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| Locomotives: |
OZRR 119(4-4-0) |
| Views: |
327 Comments: 0 |
