Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF in Wichita, Kansas-November 29, 2013.

My buddy Glenn and myself were traveling through Kansas and Oklahoma. Our primary goal was shooting grain elevators. We spent Thanksgiving night in Wichita. Glenn wanted to shoot some of the terminal grain elevators in Wichita. We were in his car and I was the GPS for him. I lived in Sedgwick and Newton when I worked on the Santa Fe. Sometimes when you are riding shotgun, you do not have the chance to shoot where you want. We had been stopped on 21st Street shooting some of the elevators and old flour mills. I heard a train coming through Wichita. We started west on 21st Street. The lights and gates were already down. Luckily, Glenn pulled off on the north side of 21st street. He was kind enough to roll down his window. I did not have time to get out of the car. I had to take the first shot from the passenger seat. I managed to shoot numerous shots once I got out of the car. You can not beat the winter light. The train was a marine stack train with power set up as 2 X 2.

Gary A. Rich
Aurora, CO.

1. The stack train has just crossed 21st Street. This shot was taken from the passenger seat. This accounts for the black on the upper right corner.

2. Looking down Topeka Street towards the crossing. I had to take this shot with the elevators and flour mills. Nothing says Wichita better than the grain elevators and old flour mills.

3. The DPU's are crossing over Topeka Street. 20th Street cross the tracks at this location, too.

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4. The DPU's crossing over 21st Street. A Wichita bus is stopped at the crossing, which adds a little more color to the image.

5. The DPU's are north of 21st Street, now. If you look closely, you will notice that there are no engine numbers on the cabs. They are there. The sun light was so strong that the numbers disappear.

All images taken on November 29, 2013. This is on the north side of downtown Wichita. The BNSF North Wichita yard is about a half mile away on the right side.

Gary A. Rich
Aurora, CO

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Sweet light, funny you got a shot of a Weigand Realestate sign, my wifes cousin lives there and works for Weigand, very big in Wichita.
JB

WOW! #2 and #3 are perfectly lit/shadowed. Great catch!

Mike

Elevator in the back round is the old Red Star Flour Mill. Seems like it a neon or large Red Star on top . I think Red Star folded in the late 60's or early 70's.

It seems like when I was a kid, one of the flour mills had the Pillsbury logo on it? Was Red Star a branch of Pillsbury? Maybe another TO member can tell us?

The elevator that sits between the Santa Fe and the MP tracks had the Pillsbury logo on it at one time.

You know you are getting old when you can't remember where the flour mills were located. When I was switching on the Santa Fe, We would deliver cars to the WTA (Wichita Terminal Association). I think cars for Wichita Flour went into the 17th Street connection and cars for Kansas Flour Mill went into the connection at 13th Street. It has been many years ago, when I was working down at Wichita. I always prefer Sand Creek over Wichita. Better class of people working Sand Creek.

Gary
Aurora, CO

Early 80's, I was on a grain train south out of Sand Creek, and a line of west bound traffic was trying to cross the tracks at 21st, onto Broadway. A big dump truck hit the brakes for the red light, just clearing the crossing. The station wagon behind him had no place to go. It did go to the junk yard, and the driver did go to the hospital. Always a lot of drama trying to get through Wichita before they put the flyover in.

Pillsbury didn't have a flour mill in Wichita,but its elevator was NE of the Red Star Mill. The Pillsbury Elevator is still in use ,but they don't own it, and the faded Pillsbury Sign is still visible

"Better class of people working Sand Creek."

Really? You don't say.