Nostalgia & History > Maroon Monday: Reaching into Nebraska!

Here we go with another group of Merle Graves’ depot photography. Merle was another contemporary of Art’s father, and passed away long before Bill (WAG Sr) did. In Art’s collection is a sizable bunch of his slides covering RR depots. Kansas is heavily represented, but surrounding states are in this group as well.

I had mentioned before that “Depot Friday will never be the same”. This isn’t exactly Friday, but it’s ‘Maroon Monday’ and these 8 Rock Island depot shots just can’t wait! All 8 photos are from a long-gone branch line that ran from Horton, KS northwest into Nebraska connecting with the Rocky Mountain Rocket mainline at Fairbury, NE. All were taken by the late Mr. Merle Graves. Enjoy…

1. Powhattan, KS on October 25, 1959.

2. Fairview, KS on August 21, 1957.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/22 00:30 by santafe199.

---

---

3. Sabetha, KS on January 22, 1967.

4. Bern, KS on January 22, 1967.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/22 00:30 by santafe199.

---

---

5. Du Bois, NE (sorta…) on January 22, 1967.

6. Pawnee, NE (station sign only) on January 22, 1967.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/22 00:31 by santafe199.

---

---

7. Buchard, NE on January 22, 1967.*

8. Beatrice, NE on January 22, 1967.

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Art Gibson (wag216)

*I got a PM from Mr. Tom Jurgens about this depot. It's actually a CB&Q depot. However Mr. Graves has his slide marked "R. I. depot, Buchard, NE" (spelled without the R). I put the slide under glass and my 58 year old eyes can just make out the Burchard lettering on the shadowed end of the depot (with no Rock Island herald). So it turns out this week my Maroon Monday has a bit of the Q in it! Thanks for the correction, Tom!

Lance



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/22 00:32 by santafe199.

---

---

Glad to see these shots! There aren't many in existence of most of these depots. Thanks for posting!!

In the background of the Beatrice station, the old auto carriers were still there September of 2013.

As Lance stated, the Burchard depot was on the Q. Just 5 short years before this photo was taken, this depot still saw passenger service twice daily except Sunday. I think the last passenger service was February 22, 1962. Eight or so years before this photo was taken, the Pioneer Zephyr was used for a few months on the afternoon run through Burchard. We lived about a block from the Burlington tracks in Beatrice and I can remember seeing the Zephyr go north on several afternoons. It was an interesting change from the motor cars or E-7's that we usually saw!

These are great! It's hard to tell a railroad went through much of this area any more. When was the last train on the line and when was it pulled up?

imrl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> These are great! It's hard to tell a railroad
> went through much of this area any more. When was
> the last train on the line and when was it pulled
> up?


The last train to travel the full length of the Horton - Fairbury line left Horton, KS on January 25, 1967. Rails were removed from Horton to Beatrice shortly after that. The stretch from Fairbury to Beatrice remained and was served by a local out of Fairbury. Service on that stretch ended in August, 1979 or thereabouts.

Great post, what a rare look at some long-forgotten depots. Sure am glad Mr. Graves took the time to document this line just before the end of operations.
kirk

Mr. Graves had a good eye for color and composition. I'm looking forward to more photos from this collection!

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com