Fremont and Elkhorn Valley Railroad
| Reporting mark | FEVR, EVRC |
|---|---|
| Locale | Fremont, Nebraska to Hooper, Nebraska |
| Dates of operation | 1986–2015 |
| Predecessor | Chicago & North Western |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | Fremont, Nebraska |
The Fremont and Elkhorn Valley Railroad (reporting mark FEVR) was a 17-mile (27 km) heritage railroad headquartered in Dodge County, Nebraska. It is owned by the Nebraska Railroad Museum which offered excursion services with the equipment of the FEVR system.
The FEVR line extended from Fremont to nearby Hooper. It was originally built in 1869 as part of the larger system, the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad (FE&MV). In 1903, the Chicago and North Western Railway (CNW) acquired the FE&MV & continued to operate the line until 1982, when the section from Fremont to Norfolk (known by C&NW as the West Point Subdivision) was abandoned after flooding along the Elkhorn River damaged the section. From the mid-1970s until the abandonment in 1982, the track had been seeing declining freight traffic levels. The museum acquired the Fremont to West Point section in 1985.
Inaugurated on Memorial Day 1986 as an excursion line for the summer months, the trains were powered by 2-8-0 #1702, a 1942 steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works. A back-up locomotive, EMD SW1200 (Soo Line 2121), was used until 1996. Since then the motive power was FEVR 1219 (nee CNW 1219, CNW 319) another EMD SW1200, built in 1962.
In 2011, after foreclosure was threatened on a bank loan, the Nebraska Railroad Museum sold the rail line to Mike Williams of Richmond, Mo.-based Railroad Materials Salvage Inc., in a deal that also included the museum's locomotives. The museum planned to continue to operate its dinner train on the line, renamed the Fremont Northern Railroad, through a lease agreement, but the train was discontinued in 2012 after deteriorating rail conditions jeopardized safety and promised repairs were not made. Much of the line's track has since been removed.
A FEVR train can be seen in the 1995 film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.
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