Yeah, that was pretty deceptive, motorcy90. That would bum me out. Sorry about that.
Besides that Friday Gazette article, and that then current, top of the board tweet Monday, the official schedule at the UP Schedule web page still says “No Public Access” under Cedar Rapids.
It didn’t say that originally.
Yet, if you search online, there is a KCRG report on it (which I believe is owned by the same company as The Gazette). They said people (or at least some, I don’t recall) had to park pretty far away, but there were people there. Fewer than would have been, but for the reports. I think that is where they were filming. Yet, the Gazette the next day only had photos from Wheatland and Mount Vernon. I don’t think it was ever officially public access, but they let people in who showed up.
On some of this, for one thing it is new, a train this size anyway, so hopefully UP learns from this and is more consistent or plans better in the future,
Another is probably that some of the sites better accommodate crowds of people than others, with less planning. It sounds like both Des Moines and Cedar Rapids are just regular freight yards, not accustomed to a lot of people. Chicago sounds like it was tied into or at least near the commuter lines that go into the city. Omaha is their corporate headquarters and it seems they have options there.
If they come come back through, I would hope they do a better job in this regard.
North Platte is on the original UP route, and probably covers a bigger geographic area. I believe it was a, or the major hub or crossroads for troops going off to WW2. I think I saw a special once on how well the troops were treated by the locals there. At the same time it is much smaller than Cedar Rapids. Yet it warranted a full fledged stop, including the exhibit.
Not sure there were any cities of similar size they were less prepared for. And, that a large number of people might show up was precisely their concern.
