Western Railroad Discussion > The Originals 3 out of 6

The previous posts of the 2nd annual KS Gang Shootout at my
place and the shots taken enroute are all fantastic. All posts
and photographs were wonderful and does my heart good that the
tradition carries on.
When I first met Lance, atsf199,in 1980, there were five KS Gunslingers
that I was introduced to and immediately forced to keep up with
in the railfan photography department. It was a tall order for
an amateur negative shooting dunce head. Like throwing me in the
shark infested water and saying "Now Swim".
The five "Gunslingers" were Lance, Dave Franz,(Monadave) fellow ATSF brakeman at
Emporia, John Arbuckle, AMTRAK station agent, Mark Simonson, ATSF employee,
and Mike Provine, our railfan friend who lived in McPherson, KS. I hoped
I would become No. 6.
Life holds no promises or guarantees and 32 years later, 3 out of the original
6 original "Gunslingers" are still getting together. Two of our original gang
have passed away, Mike Provine and Mark Simonson. God Rest Their Souls.
Dave Franz is still up in "God's Country" (Montana) but am looking forward to
having a get together with all of us.
Anyway, here is my humble image of the original KS "Gunslingers" left in Kansas
that came last night to my place. Dave, you need to get down here!!!

Photo taken by Austin Seely.

Thanks for looking and listening.

Bob Helling
PRose

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please tell us who is whom here...

One that passed on. Mike Provine (March 10, 1946-April 10, 2009). Longtime friend and supporter of our museum in Wichita. Also a veteran of the Vietnam War.

Fred in Wichita

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ceedy Wrote:
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> please tell us who is whom here...

Left to right: Lance (santafe199), John Arbuckle (TheChiefWay), Bob Helling (PRose)

Fred in Wichita

Damn near handsome enough to be ex-SP, amazing how many long term friends come
out of this hobby.

Thank you Fred for pointing out who is who.

My apologies to Trainorders for not doing
that.

Bob Helling
PRose

What a ferocious-looking bunch of geriatric 'gun'slingers (snicker)! Thank God we only shot with film; otherwise there's no telling what kind of mis-firing mischief we would have gotten into 3 decades ago! Of the 4 remaining 80's KS gangsters, 3 of us have 'converted' to digital. There is one hold-out who is CHIEF-ly holding onto his slide film WAYs. I won't give you his name, mainly to protect THE guilty...

And "rehunn" is nearly dead-right. It IS amazing how many long tern friendships come out of the wonderful hobby. But these 5 guys are the brothers I never had the chance to have in real family life. These guys ARE my family. And Mike & Mark; may both of you rest in a place where the sun shines always & the K-64 never runs out...

Lance

Addendum: It took a little bit of digging, but I found this shot of 4 of the 6 of us 80's KS Gang & so-called gunslingers. Looks like everybody's packin' at least some kind of semi-automatic device...

From left to right: Mark Simonson (dec.), John Arbuckle, Dave Franz & Bob Helling. We were just a wee bit younger in those days... ;^)

The occasion was a concerted chase of a Cotton Belt business train over the ex-Rock Island Golden State Route that had recently been refurbished. We all gave chase (if my memory serves me correctly) from west of Pratt, KS to around Medora, KS northeast of Hutchinson. We broke off the chase when the weather turned from very marginal to just plain crappy. This shot was taken shortly after we quit following the train. Mike Provine couldn't get free for this chase & yours truly is behind the camera. The date is January 7, 1983...



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/19 19:01 by santafe199.

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PRose Wrote:
>>Franz is still up in "God's Country" (Montana) but am looking forward to
having a get together with all of us.<<


I might even show up with brown paper sacks full of yellow boxes.

Dave in Msla

Hey Dave,

Someone, won't mention any names, showed up with
yellow boxes last night.
But what was in those yellow boxes were definitely
3 leggers.

Bob H.
PRose

There were definitely some pretty good "Ooo's" and "Ahhh's" last night, even from the younger of the group. It was a pretty good mix with some slides from Art covering Kansas City streetcars, Lance and Bob with some great KP variety and some great Santa Fe, Mop and Rock Island from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Maybe next year we will figure out how to show some digital "slides" from use youngsters!