Western Railroad Discussion > Notes from Cleburne

In Santa Fe’s halcyon days the town of Cleburne, Texas became very well known. All a railfan had to do was pay minimal attention to the railroading scene to know what Cleburne was all about. As a train service employee in for Santa Fe from 1978-1987 Cleburne came into even sharper focus for me. Stories & anecdotes concerning Cleburne would inevitably drift north a couple of crew-change districts, and I relished hearing every one. In those days Gainesville, TX crews ran all the up to my crew change point of Arkansas City, KS. In the occasional inter-mingling while waiting for respective trains those Gainesville boys would always have a tale to tell about something or other. And that classic Texas drawl only made the stories more colorful.

I always thought I would make a trek down to Cleburne armed with camera & film and shoot the place up right. I got that chance in the summer of 1980, but I didn’t realize I would need some local guidance to cover the place properly. So I made a ‘lick & a promise’ photographic sortie and was on my way down the road. I made a mental note to come back later when I had more time and had someone to show me around. “It’ll always be there, right?”

35 years later I made that return. I sorta wish I hadn’t. To know what Cleburne was back then, and to see what it is today was depressing to say the least. But I did manage to find a few subjects to capture…

1. Santa Fe’s famous Circle-Cross emblem is still embedded in the idle smoke stack. At least it wasn’t shamelessly covered over like the one in Topeka…

2. There HAS to be a story behind these 2 wooden derelicts…

3. AT&SF 999457 sits in retirement at the corner of N Border & E Willingham Sts.

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4. & 5. The old Santa Fe shops are visible as BNSF 6427 departs south (TT west) with an autorack train.

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6. & 7. A couple of scenes from Amtrak’s new depot in Cleburne. This building has a really nice “throw-back” look to it, very nicely done.
(7 photos taken in Cleburne, TX on June 23, 2015.)

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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Nice look at the area Lance--those 2 old waycars have some neat character and is especially good to see that several parts of the area hasn't been leveled to a total loss. Looks like they've done well with the depot indeed.
Brian Stevens

Great finds & photos Lance.

Ronda Thomas

I shot that pair of cabooses (or waycars:}) back in 2013. Looks like they have been fenced off since then.
Nice series Lance.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/attachments/fullsize/771000/img3179a_0001.jpg

Did you miss the ATSF 3417 on display in Cleburne?

The_Chief_Way Wrote: > Did you miss the ATSF 3417...

Yessir!

added later: In my 1980 visit I managed to get some shots of the 2925 in DEEP shadow. Does that count???
Wait a sec.... weren't you & I together on that trip?????

:^/



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/15 13:49 by santafe199.

I believe those wood cabooses are x-FW&D.

Did you ever bump into a female hoghead in Ark City at that time by the name of Cindy Eiler? She went by "Bluebird". I took promotion with her in Topeka in '78.

Chico43 Wrote: > Did you ever bump into a female hoghead in Ark City at that time...

I never knew her real name, and I never really "bumped into" her or talked to her. But I've definately been in the same wire office/crew room when "Bluebird" was. She was a teeny tiny little bit on the [shall we say] BOISTEROUS side!! I never heard one single complaint about her job performance. But I got the impression she worked pretty hard at trying to fit in with the rest of the guys. She could definitely hold her own in a male-dominated conversational atmosphere. (Woof... ;^)

Lance

Interesting stuff...!! Thanks for sharing.

I think she quit and went to work as a fireman/paramedic. The station's right across from the depot. 

Was she from Holyrood, KS? There used to be a girl years ago from there that was a engineer and her last name was Ehler and her dads name was Harold. upkpfan

santafe199 Wrote:
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> Chico43 Wrote: > Did you ever bump into a female
> hoghead in Ark City at that time...
>
> I never knew her real name, and I never really
> "bumped into" her or talked to her. But I've
> definately been in the same wire office/crew room
> when "Bluebird" was. She was a teeny tiny little
> bit on the  BOISTEROUS side!! I never heard one
> single complaint about her job performance. But
> I got the impression she worked pretty hard at
> trying to fit in with the rest of the guys. She
> could definitely hold her own in a male-dominated
> conversational atmosphere. (Woof... ;^)
>
> Lance

You just described her to a tee. She made the promotion class interesting to say the least. Heard a rumor years later that she left the rr and married the fire chief.

upkpfan Wrote:
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> Was she from Holyrood, KS? There used to be a girl
> years ago from there that was a engineer and her
> last name was Ehler and her dads name was Harold.
> upkpfan

Could very well have been spelled EHLER, in fact I think it was. That was a long time ago and my memory is fading.