Western Railroad Discussion > Banner day in the Flint Hills (alpha)

With advice from a friendly source, I decided to spend an entire day in my old Santa Fe working territory down in the Flint Hills. I arrived in Cassoday, KS and right off the bat I saw that a westbound train was lined up on Main #2. With no further ado, let’s go to the captions>>v

1. At straight up 7:00 AM: Here are the westward signals at the west end of the siding at Cassoday. Tracks L-R: Cassoday siding, Main #2 & Main #1. (signals governing Main #1 are intermediate only)

2. 7:06 AM: 1st train of the day was U-MNXDPK led by BNSF 7945. And...

3. ...on the rear end was BNSF 4140 as the DP. Not posted are 2 westbound trains: G-ADRELP @ 7:25 AM & Z-WSPALT @ 7:35 AM.

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4. The signals lined up for another westbound, and BNSF 8375 finally passed by at 7:51 AM with train S-LPCSCO.

5. I was tempted to relocate, but I waited. I hung around long enough and was rewarded with an eastbound in that perfect morning light. I bagged BNSF 5309 on this hot Z-STOWSP at 8:44 AM.
Photos 1-5 at Cassoday, KS.

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I wanted to take a look at the new shooting angles around Matfield Green. On my way down there I got a hunch and pulled over. Sure enough, EB train H-AMSKCK caught up with me near the site of the former west siding switch (9:21 AM, not posted).

6. In Matfield Green proper I took a quick look from Open Range Rd to see what the “side door, rafter shot” looked like. While I was up there EB train X-SMRPEI passed by (not posted, at 9:38 AM). 3 minutes later BNSF 6316 led WB train S-LPKSCO at 9:41 AM. Since I was on the wrong side of the sunlight I decided to...

7. ...give the 6316 a little chase. I bagged the S-train again in much better light at the new K-177 overpass.

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8. I resumed my exploration of the “brand-new” Matfield Green. I thought I was prepared for my first close-up look at the S-curve just east of the former east siding switch. On the up-side, early morning eastbound shots will be good. But those of you who have spent time on this little rise will know why I was taken aback at this “wiped-clean” scene. No trees or foliage of any kind was left. I’ve no doubt Mother Nature will eventually dress this place up. But right now it looks starkly naked...

9. While I was on that rise, BNSF sticker-unit 5869 came by at 9:58 AM with train G-EDUPXG.

10. Bringing up the rear was BNSF DP-unit 6874.
Photos 6-10 taken at or near Matfield Green, KS.

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I took an opportunity for another visit with the current resident/owner of the former Wayne Rogler ranch house. We had met a few years ago with this kind man giving me carte blanche to go on his ranch property to shoot pictures. Always with the caveat: “Make sure you close all gates behind you”. While we were chatting he explained that he had to raze the small elevator that used to stand right next to the main line. While I was there 2 more trains (not posted) met right behind his place! Trains V-CLOLPC eastbound and G-PHPCLO westbound met at 10:15 AM.

11. Moving further east to a farm road crossing I caught BNSF 7332 on train Z WSPPHX on Main #1 at 11:10 AM. Less than 60 seconds later...

12. ...BNSF 4469 trundled by on train H-KCKTPL on Main #2 (11:11 AM) while still getting the ol’ runaround...
Photos 11 & 12 taken just north (TT west) of the new K-177 overpass dividing Bazaar and Matfield Green, KS.

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13. & 14. Moving even further east I bagged another runaround situation at the new Flint, KS crossover plant. Shooting into the high-noon sunshine BNSF 7479 sat in Bazaar siding w/ train X-JOEEDU getting clipped by BNSF 7800 on train Z-ALTWSP. It was 12:17 PM.

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One more? Of course! Can’t break tradition now... It was time for a lunch break so I headed back to Cassoday to browse the “pitstop” just off the Kansas Turnpike. On my way I bagged BNSF 6328 on train Q-LACLPC just west of Bazaar (12:31 PM).

15. At 1:34 PM we’re back at west Cassoday, now looking at 2 tracks lined for movement. Even though the signal for Main #1 is an intermediate, it can only show green if the controlled signal 2 miles west at Aikman (X-overs) has been lined for movement. Will I get lucky with another side-by-side opportunity? We’ll see...
(ALL photos taken May 26, 2023)

Stay tuned for “Banner day-omega”!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/23 05:18 by santafe199.

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The early bird gets the worm or train in this case...nice series of shots and I am amazed how much the landscape east of Matfield has changed.  I hope they have a plan to stop erosion on that hillside they scraped .

atsfer Wrote: > ...  I hope they have a plan to stop erosion ...

I pretty sure they "plan" to let Mama Nature do her thing...

;^)

Great shots!  East end at Matfiel sure looks different.

texchief1

Great coverage Lance!  Thanks for posting these!  For comparison here's a shot from June 26, 2010 from about the same set of footprints you made in your shot (copycat...).  You've done an excellent job with your coverage of the double tracking project and I appreciate all your time.

Jerry
ATSF5669

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Lance & all -
Whoa! To say the least, on the transformation of the Matfield Green area. They even smoothed back the knob right by the old east switch, eh? I suppose it's still a 40 MPH curve?

Photo #8 is a lesson on the geology layers of the Flint Hills. Nice to see the colors of rock. And you'll want to get a little bow saw and nab that pine in the foreground out now. 

Very nice chase day.
Dave in MT

We missed you by one day ! We went on the 27th. We posted under the guise wedel acres depot trains on the Tube.

Posted from Android

Great series and coverage! Matfield Green looks like it got a shave and a haircut but that ROW sure looks good...

JG

ATSF5669 Wrote: > ... For comparison here's a shot from June 26, 2010 ...

Thanks for the add-on shot. I was looking for a way to post this much-enhanced shot ( WAG Wednesday: Red & Silver at Matfield (trainorders.com) ) from Art Gibson, which I originally posted 3 years ago...

Lance

Wow! How did they get this much traffic through that area with just single track main? I guess there was a lot of sitting waiting for a green to move through the hills.
Gonut

Gonut1 Wrote:
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> Wow! How did they get this much traffic through
> that area with just single track main? I guess
> there was a lot of sitting waiting for a green to
> move through the hills.
> Gonut

After the BNSF merger, directional running was imposed between Elinor and Mulvane, KS.  Westbounds went this route while eastbounds went via Wichta and Newton.  Thanks for posting, Lance.  I'll be down that way next month.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

Gonut1 Wrote: > ... How did they get this much traffic through that area with just single track main?

To answer the question I think you were asking, in my SFe working days ('78 ~ '87) this line would sometimes burst at the seams with traffic. A combination of long sidings & really good dispatching usually handled the situation. At the top of the Flint Hills grade both Cassoday & Aikman sidings were 15,029 & 14,546 feet long respectively. Even Bazaar was 10,017 feet long. So in peak traffic conditions the train DSPR could and often did stash more than one train in those sidings. There was about 13(?) miles of DT ABS/2 Main Track CTC between (east) El Dorado & (west) Augusta, KS. Also, there was a split just over 6 miles long around/through Mulvane, KS. The north main track peeled away at what was once called East Jct, and ran through Mulvane proper. The south main track skirted the east & south edges of Mulvane without any grade crossings. So the south main was the "preferred" track while the north main track acted as a very long siding. The 2 mains came back together at what was once called West Jct. Lastly, there was 8.3 miles of 2 main track CTC between Cicero & the east end of Wellington, once called SK Jct. In this respect, even though the old 4th District ran just over 100 miles between Ellinor & Wellington, considerable chunks of it could be used as double track...

Lance



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/23 10:29 by santafe199.

Very enjoyable series with lots of action!. I agree with Dave on #8 on that pine tree. Going to block the whole view someday on thst nice curve.

Larry

monaddave Wrote:
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> I suppose it's still a 40 MPH curve?

Track speed is 55 through there


ntharalson Wrote:
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> After the BNSF merger, directional running was
> imposed between Elinor and Mulvane, KS. 
> Westbounds went this route while eastbounds went
> via Wichta and Newton.

Directional running didn't begin until 2003 as prior to this it was a penalty for KC based crews to run through Newton