Nostalgia & History > WAG Wednesday: Bazar or Bazaar?

An odd state of affairs existed between the Santa Fe & the State of Kansas concerning names of towns & cities versus names of railroad locations. Kansas spells this tiny, unincorporated dent in the road: BAZAAR. But the Santa Fe decided to spell it: BAZAR. Who knows when these respective decisions were made. The railroad wasn’t completed through these Chase County Flint Hills until about 1927, but the gathering of human habitations was on this site long before that. It’s an interesting conflict, which leads this author to believe there are many other places on the Santa Fe system with the same conflict. (Baldwin/Baldwin City, KS immediately comes to mind).

Lost in the shuffle is the real story behind this picture. Bill was on his job with Santa Fe killing yet another small town depot. He sat in on the formal hearing which allowed Santa Fe to close Bazaar/Bazar as an open agency. Another small Kansas depot bites the dust. But he DID get a photograph, so enjoy it while you can…

1. AT&SF 16L on a WB manifest at Bazaar, KS on March 1, 1968.
(photo by William A. Gibson Sr.)

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Art Gibson (wag216)



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/22 13:11 by santafe199.

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Lot's to look at here....thanks!

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

I've met a lot of railfans over the years but I would have to say that Bill Gibson was one of the nicest human beings I've had the pleasure of knowing.

Neat shot. Interesting to see a high-geared passenger F on freight rather than one of the compromise-geared 325-class.

I've heard that Santa Fe sometimes shortened station names to save space and keystrokes (Ropes instead of Ropesville, TX, for instance), but I can think of a couple of cases where just the opposite occurred. I can understand why Santa Fe named its station at Morristown, AZ after the local attraction, Castle Hot Springs, but one that puzzles me a bit is Empire, CA. When there was a depot there, the station name was Empire, but as soon as the depot disappeared in 1971, the place was renamed Modesto-Empire Junction. The name was spelled out in full on an unusual two-line version of Santa Fe's standard station sign.

Then there's Moriarty, NM, whose station on the Santa Fe was renamed Calvert for some reason in 1959.

Winona vs Darling AZ always puzzled me.

There was something bizarre going on at the bazaar in Bazar that day.

After the depot was closed & removed, the crossing kinda reverted back to a little used private crossing. The main crossing was the one you see behind the rear units. Then, a few years ago, after some accidents, it was closed, and the old depot crossing went back into service with a brand new paved street that never existed when Bill took that picture.

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