Western Railroad Discussion > Waterville, KS, rails help in attracting tourists

The following story is reprinted from the April 10, 2010, issue of The Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal.

BY JAN BILES
Staff Writer
The Topeka Capital-Journal

WATERVILLE ---Gene Harding fires up the motorcar on the Central Branch Railway in downtown Waterville. Pulling an open-air passenger car that seats up to 20 people, the motorcar chugs west on the rails into the countryside.

As the "train" moves through street intersections, Waterville Preservation Society member Ann Walter waves an orange flag to alert drivers.

"It can go 15 to 20 miles per hour," Harding, a board member of the Marshall County Railroad Historical society, said.

Last year, more than 1,150 people took trips on the 12-mile Central Branch Railway and heard Walter or another volunteer describe its importance to the town's history and livelihood.

"Waterville was the railhead of the Central Branch Railway of the Missouri Pacific Railroad," Walter said.

In 1866, construction began on a rail line from Atchison to Netawaka and then continued into Waterville the following year. The new 100-mile stretch of rail was called the Central Branch Railway. Plans called for the railroad to continue to Colorado, but construction was halted in 1869 when the Union Pacific Railroad took control of the Central Branch.

Walter said the Central Branch brought immigrants to Kansas, served as a supply train to bring seed, lumber and other materials to developing towns, and transported cattle and turkeys.

"It was also an orphan train," she said, describing how children were "adopted" off a stage at Blue Rapids Opera House or sent on to Concordia.

In the 1940s, the train transported prisoners of war to an internment camp in Concordia. It carried its last passenger in the 1960s, and its last freight in the 1970s.

When the Union Pacific began filing abandonment paperwork for the Central Branch in Marshall County in 2001, citizens formed the Marshall County Railroad Historical Society to protect the strip of rail running through the county.

"We knew if we lost the rails we would lose our history," Walter said.

The historical society had to work quickly --- they had to raise $45,000 in seven days if they wanted to purchase the rail line.

"A sense of pride in the community helped give us the financial backing," she said. "We raised the money by hitting the pavement and making phone calls."

Central Branch now offers excursion rides. Volunteers have built two passenger cars, developed education programming and staged reenactments of shootouts and train robberies during runs.

Within a one-block walking distance of the railway are the Waterville Depot Museum, 1925 Red Caboose Museum, Waterville Opera House and the historic Weaver Hotel.

--- The Waterville Depot Museum houses railroad exhibits and other artifacts from the town's history. A diorama of Waterville with background scenes painted by local artist Kenny Winkenwader is exhibited in a hand-crafted case built by resident Bob Yount.

--- The 1925 Red Caboose Museum gives visitors a feel for the workplace of engineers and other railroad workers. the caboose features a work table, stove, benches that convert to beds and other railroad equipment.

--- The Waterville Opera House was built in 1903 for $8,000, according to manager Bevy Roepke. In addition to being used for plays, graduation ceremonies and other events over the years, the building once housed the Waterville Public Library in its basement.

Today, the opera house --- with its 340 seats, a 24-by-15-foot stage and excellent acoustics --- is used by the Waterville Community Theater, Waterville Children's Theater, Valley Heights Unified School District 498 and Marshall County Arts Cooperative.

Roepke said the building, which is being renovated to meet Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

---Built in 1905, the Weaver Hotel was the hub of tourism, travel and social activity of the region because of its proximity to the railroad tracks. Travelers, as well as railroad crews and entertainers, ate their meals or stayed overnight at the hotel. Traveling salesmen set up merchandise displays there.

The hotel was placed on the National Historic Register in August 1975. Four years later, the hotel was sold and, after a series of owners and lessees, the building was closed in 1993. The Waterville Preservation Society purchased the building in 1999 with the goal of restoring it to its former grandeur.

LueAnn Roepke, a member of the preservation society, said a Kansas Heritage Grant from the Kansas State Historical Society allowed the group to paint the hotel's exterior and install storm windows.

A $75,000 gift in memory of Max Coppes, a California resident who graduated from Waterville High School, allowed the preservation group "to dream" about what could be done with the hotel, she said.

The project also was awarded a $1.2 million Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century Grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation to restore the interior and make the building handicapped accessible. The preservation society had to raise about $600,000 to match the grant and to hire an architect.

Nelson Construction began renovating the hotel in February 2007, and it reopened to guests in May 2009.

Sandy Harding, co-manager of the hotel, said the renovated Weaver has 10 guest rooms furnished with Victorian antiques, 42-inch flat-screen televisions and wireless Internet; a dining room; meeting rooms; a breakfast bar; a catering kitchen; a visitor center with gift shop; and an elevator.

"Rooms are booked now through October," she said.

Harding said she also would like to develop a garden area north of the hotel that could be used for picnic luncheons or weddings.

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Note:

Waterville, located on the north-south U.S. 77 highway, is only a few miles south of Marysville, KS, where the Union Pacific maintains a switch yard and train crew terminal on a main line that extends southeast to Kansas City and northwest to North Platte, Neb.

Marysville is the county seat of Marshall County.

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