Nostalgia & History > some Topeka locals . .

. . in Sept '80 Santa Fe sent me back to Topeka, KS for engineer training. The class lasted six weeks and some of the guys were on the verge of nuts. Me, I made the best of it and treated it as a vacation. Fortunately I made friends with a great guy from Wichita who drove his own car up so I basically had some wheels to get around. Our class was an afternoon class so no getting up early and all morning to early afternoon to mess around. Here are a few shots of the various locals that operated into and out of Topeka at the time;
top: Santa Fe Emporia turn headed out of town.
middle and bottom: Missouri Pacific's turn out of Osage City leaving Topeka headed back to Osage City on a couple of different days.
JB

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The MoPac did not run to Osage City.

The MoPac's local was based out of Osawatomie. Crews made the run from Osawatomie to Topeka and back the same day, generally in the daylight hours (although it was often dark when the train returned to Osawatomie.

The local left Osawatomie and traveled to the west on the main line that led to Pueblo. The local then took a branch line from Lomax --- west of Ottawa --- north through Overbrook to Topeka. I think the tracks passed on the east side of the old Forbes Air Base. Does anyone know if the MoPac serviced the U.S. Air Force at Forbes? The ATSF had tracks on the west side of the base and had spurs that led into the base. But I'm uncertain if the MoPac had any business with the Air Force at Topeka.

Thanks for the correction, can always count on fellow TO'ers to point out our ignorance ; )
JB

thtinc41ed Wrote:
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> The MoPac did not run to Osage City.
>
> The MoPac's local was based out of Osawatomie.
> Crews made the run from Osawatomie to Topeka and
> back the same day, generally in the daylight hours
> (although it was often dark when the train
> returned to Osawatomie.
>
> The local left Osawatomie and traveled to the west
> on the main line that led to Pueblo. The local
> then took a branch line from Lomax --- west of
> Ottawa --- north through Overbrook to Topeka. I
> think the tracks passed on the east side of the
> old Forbes Air Base. Does anyone know if the MoPac
> serviced the U.S. Air Force at Forbes? The ATSF
> had tracks on the west side of the base and had
> spurs that led into the base. But I'm uncertain if
> the MoPac had any business with the Air Force at
> Topeka.


On occasion they did serve Forbes. I grew up in Pauline in the 50's & 60's. I attended the Pauline grade school from 1955-62. I can remember more than once seeing the MOP local moving some cars directly east of the school. The track was just east of the fence along the east side of our school. I also remember looking the other direction on another day, and watching a pair Santa Fe Alco PA's taking the siding at Pauline, eastbound with a freight train. Even at that early age, I knew that was unusual. I did a lot of looking out the windows during the first four years I was in school there, and I'm still suffering the effects of it. I was learning an occupation & didn't even know it.

thtinc41ed Wrote:
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> Does anyone know if the MoPac
> serviced the U.S. Air Force at Forbes? The ATSF
> had tracks on the west side of the base and had
> spurs that led into the base. But I'm uncertain if
> the MoPac had any business with the Air Force at
> Topeka.

Old topographical maps show a full way at the north end of the base with the spur goes west, around the northwest end of the main runway and then goes south into the main part of the base. Another shorter spur left the main line just south of the wye and ended on the east side of the runway. This may have been the original spur into the base until a runway expansion relocated the spur north. But spurs are clearly still visible on satellite photos of area.

In the 50's when they were extending the north end of the runway, there was a short lived connection between Santa Fe and the MoPac at Forbes. It took off the Santa Fe mainline just north of the 57th st crossing at Pauline, and went southeast across hwy 75 and connected with the MOP spur near where the north Forbes entrance is present day. You can still see the diagonal cuts in the concrete on the hwy. They put it in to deliver rock for the concrete plant.