Nostalgia & History > Maroon Monday: Open air comfort?

We’re taking a look through Jim Watson’s camera at a Rock Island scene from just a few moons ago. There’s really not much Maroon here, but it IS the Rock Island. We’re looking west along the McFarland ~ Belleville branch as it once ran through Manhattan, KS. At the ‘Manhattan’ signboard is a makeshift train order signal & operator’s shack on the site of the old depot. In the foreground is a means of transportation for the M. O. W. boys that doesn’t appear to be very well suited for cold December weather...

1. CRI&P scene in Manhattan, KS on December 8, 1972.
(Photo by James W. Watson)

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Jim Watson (UP6900)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/22 03:39 by santafe199.

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I have a shot taken in front of the Wymore, NE BN depot on a bitterly cold New Year's Eve morning in the early 70's.  There were 2 guys getting ready to go west on the line to Red Cloud in their open air dream machine.  Even though they were pretty well bundled up, that had to rank pretty near the top of forgettable days in their careers!

My Dad worked  over 40 years as a section laborer/foreman on the RI and most of that time they
didn't even have a windshield and top.  Just a canvas wind screen.  RI always claimed that
tops/sides/ etc. restricted vision and hearing!  Wasn't until the last year or two before he retired that
they got a truck.
zr190

Lance, What  a great photo. This is a Fairmont S2 as were the ones in the photo on the BN at Wymore Tom speaks of. I know where there are 9 of these rotting away in a farm field that were bought at a Rock auction it DesMoines at the end of the Rock. Now I wonder if this is one of those. Maybe I'll have to go look.
Steve

Nice photo, especially with the station sign included.  I remember the section gang guys going out on those every morning to get their work done between freight and passenger schedules.
Brian Stevens

I mentioned before the yard in Belleville (Belleville Jct) which is like seven tracks wide and then
you look at this shot and wonder why. Belleville was the junction for the Manhatten line and the
line that went North into Nebraska, even the UP had to for some reason get to Belleville. You go
there now and just shake your head! There's way more abandoned track in Kansas than in service
today.

Out

Taking a look at Google Maps you can see lots of yard tracks; mostly empty.

Google Map Belleville, KS

Did the Rock ever have much KC - Denver traffic competing against UP?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/16 17:50 by millerdc.

> Did the Rock ever have much KC - Denver traffic competing against UP?

Hello,

To summarize, the Belleville - McFarland line was more of a secondary mainline for the RI, it shouldn't be categorized as a "branch".  That line had 4 through trains/day most years through the 1960s to mid - 70s.  It handled traffic (including priority shipments, autos & TOFC) between Denver and the KC / St. Louis gateways, competing against UP, CBQ/BN, ATSF and MP.  They also handled grain in season from northern KS / southern Nebr to KC and Gulf destinations.  There was also a surprising amount of Denver - "Southwest" / Texas traffic that moved along that route, justifying an entire train each way in certain years (mainly early '70s).  It's hard to imagine all of that activity, looking at photos from the RI's last years when track condition had deteriorated to mostly 10 mph and traffic volumes had dwindled to almost nothing.

Take care,

Mark   

mamfahr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Did the Rock ever have much KC - Denver
> traffic competing against UP?
>
> Hello,
>
> To summarize, the Belleville - McFarland line was
> more of a secondary mainline for the RI,
> it shouldn't be categorized as a
> "branch".  That line had 4 through trains/day
> most years through the 1960s to mid - 70s.  It
> handled traffic (including priority shipments,
> autos & TOFC) between Denver and the KC / St.
> Louis gateways, competing against UP, CBQ/BN, ATSF
> and MP.  They also handled grain in season from
> northern KS / southern Nebr to KC and Gulf
> destinations.  There was also a surprising amount
> of Denver - "Southwest" / Texas traffic that
> moved along that route, justifying an entire train
> each way in certain years (mainly early '70s). 
> It's hard to imagine all of that activity, looking
> at photos from the RI's last years when track
> condition had deteriorated to mostly 10 mph and
> traffic volumes had dwindled to almost nothing.
>
> Take care,
>
> Mark   

Thank you for the traffic info.

> Thank you for the traffic info.

Hello,

To help show what I described, here's a cropped version of a RI Freight Schedule Diagram from 1973.  Note it shows 6 scheduled trains at that time.

Take care,

Mark 
 

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