Nostalgia & History > Semaphore Sunday: Reading, KS

Here's a scene to warm the heart of any semaphore fan. We're trackside near Reading, Kansas on the Santa Fe's Eastern Division 1st District. A solid train of loaded grain hoppers is making its way down from Topeka down to Emporia to join the freight main line, which will later be called the transcon. This eastbound semaphore block signal is 'pure old-school'! In a land where Uncle John's legendary Warbonnets once roamed, Amtrak's Chicago-Los Angeles 'Southwest Limited' still graces these rails with speeds up to 90 MPH. Note the ATS hardware under the fuel tank of the second unit in this consist.

1. AT&SF 3630 on a westbound unit grainer at Reading, KS on April 4, 1982.

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/22 20:29 by santafe199.

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Great photo! Wish the yellow and blue were still around!

Mark

Posted from Android

Although ATS remains in service on the Topeka Sub, the max speed for psgr trains was lowered to 79mph about 1980, IIRC.

The_Chief_Way Wrote:
> ...lowered to 79mph about 1980, IIRC.

In 1984 I was dating Carol ______, a pharmaceutical major going to medical school at KU. I "hitched" cab rides a few times on #3/4 to & from Lawrence. I'm pretty certain the top speed was still 90...

hobo Sir L

Posted from Android

The_Chief_Way Wrote:
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> Although ATS remains in service on the Topeka Sub,
> the max speed for psgr trains was lowered to 79mph
> about 1980, IIRC.

The downgrade happened later (1990s?). All my ETTS are packed for a move so I can't verify.

The First District had too many curves and grades to have much speed potential. Nonetheless, speed-crazy AT&SF gave the district ATS in the early 1950s and posted the 90mph max speed. In numerous trips over this territory, there were only two short stretches between Holliday and Emporia where 90mph was routinely achieved.

When the Red Rock coal trains started coming off the UP at Topeka and heading south to Oklahoma (late 70s'?), Santa Fe started flattening the once impressive passenger superelevation on the curves to a very modest cant suitable for slower tonnage trains. This, plus tired jointed rail brought about the downgrade to 79. Although this route now has much welded rail, the numerous 45 mph curves for Amtrak are quite depressing.

Lance, I will always like your photos and descriptions but, in my opinion, "Uncle John" is not a prideful term in referring to this once great railroad.

Bob

I think I'll agree with Bob on the date.....it was more like 1990. About the same time, they
slowed things down between Lamy and Albuquerque

Great picture Lance, I hope you don't mind that I add in a picture of my semaphore by my shop building (shooting into the sun)- for some reason I just love semaphores.

Thanks,
J.Dean Sheldrake
Silverton, OR

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bnsfbob wrote:
> ...... in my opinion, "Uncle John" is
> not a prideful term in referring to this once
> great railroad.

I have ALWAYS used the nickname Uncle John with the deepest affection for my beloved Santa Fe, as has 100% of the other railfans I've ever heard use the name. I suspect you might get quite a bit dialogue going with your statement. With all due respect.

Also, in my heart I don't think the Santa Fe ever was NOT a great railroad.

Lance

Posted from Android

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bnsfbob wrote:
> > ...... in my opinion, "Uncle John" is
> > not a prideful term in referring to this once
> > great railroad.
>
> I have ALWAYS used the nickname Uncle John with
> the deepest affection for my beloved Santa Fe, as
> has 100% of the other railfans I've ever heard use
> the name. I suspect you might get quite a bit
> dialogue going with your statement. With all due
> respect.
>
> Also, in my heart I don't think the Santa Fe ever
> was NOT a great railroad.
>
> Lance
>
> Posted from Android

When I was young, all I knew about railroad slang and nicknames was what I read in the pages of Railroad and Trains. When I was older and started talking to old heads on the Santa Fe I found that using "Uncle John" would at best get me a quizzical stare. At worst, it would get me some tobacco spit deposited on the ground near my front toes. I came to the conclusion that "Uncle John" was generally considered a derisive term among working rails.

There was an incredible amount of pride among Santa Fe employees. Most of the old heads are gone now and I know I can give an historical account using any language I want. However, I choose to honor these craftsmen by being faithful to the actual names and words they used. Uncle John was not in their lexicon.

Bob

I'm glad you guys got the date of the speed reduction on the First District moved up a few years or I would have been fired for going 90. In the early 1980's (I think it was 1982) things were a little slow at the Engineer Training Center in Topeka and they needed someone to fill in for a Road Foreman of Engines on the Eastern Division who was terminally ill so I was nominated. I knew there was a work stoppage looming and I would probably have to operate the passenger trains. So, I started getting some practice in the driver's seat whenever there was a business car move being made. There was a temporary 10 mph speed restriction over a road crossing a few miles south of Pauline and I would see just how long I could wait before starting to reduce my speed from 90 mph down to 10. Well it happened! On the first night of the work stoppage I had to operate No. 4 from Emporia to Kansas City. At Kansas City my conductor (a Trainmaster from Topeka) came up to me and said I had scared the heck out him as he thought I had overlooked that temporary 10 mph restriction. He didn't know I had been practicing on that before hand.

Mark Cole

I was still living in Topeka in 1979, but working the Newton-Ark City local. Not looking forward to the long drive home for Christmas, I ate breakfast with #4's crew at Leionida's and rode the 2nd unit to Topeka, where my wife picked me up. Right out of the chute, we hit a van parked on the track at Walton, killing two. After a two hour delay, we departed, with a broken speedometer cable. MD Matile was the engineer, and he was pretty familiar with the territory into Emporia. There we picked up a frt pool engineer not familiar on Amtrak, and was only on the 1st district a few times a year. He wanted me to call out his speeds in places where he would have to slow down, which I did, but he was pretty much right on in most places... Except the part south of Pauline into the Topeka Depot. He topped the hill and came out of the curve at MP 59 and never shut off until he crossed 57th street at 100 mph. I couldn't say much on the radio, so I just tapped the call bell a couple of times, but he held it right there until we came by White Lakes where he began to slow for the 20 mph curve at 10th street, which he did perfectly.

Union Equity covered hoppers, probably out of N Topeka (I don't think they had an elevator in Atchison...). That fleet of cars, along with the Garvey cars and the Kohler(?) privates were signature cars on the Santa Fe at that time. Thanks for posting.