The South Omaha Terminal Railway in

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 ...

was a subsidiary of the

Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha The Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha was a 90-year-old company first founded in South Omaha, Nebraska in 1878 by John A. Smiley. After being moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa and dissolved within a year, the company was reorganized and moved to Sou ...

. Until the separate railroad company was created in July 1927, the trackage, about , was owned and operated directly by the Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha. On April 4, 1978, an

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminat ...

emergency service order was issued at which time the

Brandon Corporation The Brandon Railroad is a switching and terminal railroad that operates 17.3 miles of former South Omaha Terminal Railway track outside of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. This railroad started out as the Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha in 1897. ...

took over service. The Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha needed a separate line to run cattle to and from 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 ...

mainline in downtown Omaha. After building the line, in 1904 the Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha was involved in a

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

case against the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

entitled Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha v. Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The case addressed liability issues after a defective

freight car A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is ...

injured a worker.(1925) "Right of Indemnitors of Co-Tortfeasors to Contribution from Each Other." ''The Yale Law Journal. 45''(1) November, pp. 151-156. The South Omaha Railway used former CB&Q 0-6-0 steam locomotives. During World War II the railroad applied to purchase 5 diesel locomotives from the

American Locomotive Company The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

. The basis of the request was that the steam locomotives were worn out and they needed the diesel locomotives to supply meat to the war effort. The request was approved and 5 S-1 locomotives were purchased. In later years 1 locomotive sat unused in front of the sand blasting building for

Nebraska Railcar Nebraska () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas ...

paint. The body of this locomotive now resides in a scrapyard in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The other locomotives were sold to a railroad in Kansas where they were further dispersed. 1 locomotive is preserved at the

Abilene and Smokey Valley Railroad Abilene may refer to: Places United States * Abilene, Kansas * Abilene, Texas * Abilene, Texas metropolitan area * Abilene, Virginia * Abilene State Park, near Abilene, Texas * Abilene Trail, from Texas to Abilene, Kansas, used in the 19th ...

and another is preserved at the

Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview Histo ...

as Nekoosa Paper #14.

References

Defunct Nebraska railroads Railway lines in Omaha, Nebraska History of South Omaha, Nebraska Meatpacking industry in Omaha, Nebraska 1927 establishments in Nebraska 1978 disestablishments in Nebraska {{Omaha-stub