Omaha Belt Line
| Locale | Omaha, Nebraska |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1883–Early 1960s |
The Omaha Belt Line was a 15-mile (24 km) long railroad that circumnavigated Omaha, Nebraska, 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, with the first line from the Sarpy County line into Downtown Omaha.
The line was first associated with the Union Pacific Railroad, whose officers first registered it as a "pet project" in 1883. In 1885, a young railroad tycoon named Jay Gould noticed that the Omaha Belt Line would be a perfect route to run his burgeoning Missouri Pacific Railroad around Omaha, thereby giving his railroad direct access to Downtown Omaha, 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 directors 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.
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