The Omaha and Republican Valley Railway was a branch line of the Union Pacific that crossed Nebraska. Traversing several counties, including Buffalo County, the Railway was the impetus for several settlements, and upon its demise, several ghost towns. The Railway ran from Boelus to South Ravenna, to

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

and on to Pleasanton, Nebraska.Howell, A.S. (1981
"Sartoria, a little ghost town"
, ''Buffalo Tales''. Buffalo County Historical Society. Retrieved 8/22/07.

About

In 1880, the Omaha and Republican Valley Railway Company was consolidated with the Omaha, Niobrara and Black Hills Railroad Company, and in 1886 was consolidated again with the

Blue Valley Railroad Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obse ...

. Trains started traveling along the Omaha and Republican Valley Railroad in 1890, with Pleasanton as the terminus. The Pleasanton townsite was surveyed and platted in 1890, and grew quickly. Situated on the South Loup River, Pleasanton was plagued by floods. The flood of 1947 washed away the railroad tracks, and the line was officially abandoned in 1948. One ghost town was called Sartoria, which was built with the expectation of being the terminus of the railroad. The tracks never got that far. It was seven miles beyond Pleasanton. Another ghost town along the tracks was Watertown, where the

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s would load up with water. Watertown had a post office, established in 1890, and a schoolhouse, formed in 1886. By the 1930s Watertown began to decline."Miller resident fighting to clean up cemetery"
''Nebraska State Genealogical Society Journals''. Retrieved 8/22/07.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omaha Republican Valley Railway Defunct Nebraska railroads Predecessors of the Union Pacific Railroad Railway companies established in 1887 Railway companies disestablished in 1898 Defunct Kansas railroads