The Omaha Belt Line was a long railroad that circumnavigated

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

, starting in 1885. The organization behind the line, called the Omaha Belt Railway, was incorporated two years earlier, in 1883. Carrying passengers and cargo, the original line was operated by the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

, with the first line from the Sarpy County line into

Downtown Omaha Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and the centerline ...

History

The line was first associated with the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

, whose officers first registered it as a "pet project" in 1883. In 1885, a young railroad tycoon named

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him ...

noticed that the Omaha Belt Line would be a perfect route to run his burgeoning

around Omaha, thereby giving his railroad direct access to

, something his railroad had previously only been able to reach via Union Pacific-owned tracks, which Missouri Pacific's line from Kansas City connected with at Portal, NE, just west of Papillion, NE. While being constructed with Union Pacific employees and materials, the Belt Railway had only weak ties to UP on a business level, so, the always ambitious Gould decided he would expropriate Union Pacific of the 15-mile rail line around Omaha. To ensure local agreement, Gould, known for his charisma and strategic use of easily swayed government officials, stacked the Omaha Belt

Board of director A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

s with local officials whom Gould had frequent, personal contact with - except S.H.H. Clark, who was a former president of the Union Pacific - eager to work for Gould's growing empire. This acquisition of the Omaha Belt Railway from the Union Pacific was viewed as a masterfully enacted business coup in later years. The line was finished using materials from both railroads. That use of combined resources was the subject of a later dispute between the railroad companies which they carried to the US Railway Commission. The case was eventually dropped. By the 1920s, 178 trains per day went in and out of Omaha carrying mail, passengers, and freight. The line was abandoned and removed piecemeal throughout the 1980s and 1990s as freight customers moved to bigger facilities away from the rail line and

public transportation Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

service in Omaha became less popular and dominated by an inefficient bus system. Today a portion of the Belt Line has been turned into the MoPac Trail (MoPac being the age-old nickname of the Missouri Pacific Railroad), also known as the "Field Club Trail", a recreational trail in Omaha. A small portion of the Belt Line Railway is still in use on the extreme south end of the line, which now serves as a "spur"(a dead end railroad track that provides access to one or more industries) to several

South Omaha South Omaha is a former city and current district of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. During its initial development phase the town's nickname was "The Magic City" because of the seemingly overnight growth, due to the rapid development of the Union S ...

industries near Dahlman Avenue. It is operated by the Union Pacific Railroad.

Lines and properties

Missouri Pacific's Omaha Belt Line included the main yard at Nicholas Street in

North Omaha North Omaha is a community area in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States. It is bordered by Cuming and Dodge Streets on the south, Interstate 680 on the north, North 72nd Street on the west and the Missouri River and Carter Lake, Iowa on the ...

, the "Alley" switching district in

, the "short belt" industrial area and the Westside Junction near 48th and Leavenworth streets. The Belt Line interchanged with several other roads including the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

, the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, the "

Omaha Road The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway or ''Omaha Road'' was a railroad in the U.S. states of Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota. It was incorporated in 1880 as a consolidation of the Chicago, St. Paul and Minne ...

" Railway and the Illinois Central. The Belt connected with the

's original mainline at Westside Junction, as well as the newer mainline to Kansas City and St. Louis at Dahlman Ave. in South Omaha. The Missouri Pacific railroad also had branches into

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

Wahoo Wahoo (''Acanthocybium solandri'') is a scombrid fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. It is best known to sports fishermen, as its speed and high-quality flesh makes it a prized and valued game fish. In Hawaii, the wahoo is kn ...

and

Nebraska City Nebraska City is a city in Nebraska, and the county seat of, Otoe County, Nebraska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,289. The Nebraska State Legislature has credited Nebraska City as being the oldest incorporated ...

References

{{OmahaStreetcars Railway lines in Omaha, Nebraska Missouri Pacific Railroad Railway lines opened in 1883 1883 establishments in Nebraska 1960s disestablishments in Nebraska Closed railway lines in the United States

History

Lines and properties

See also

References