Nostalgia & History > WAG running extra (#10): Harveyville, KS

One of the many concurrent railfan ‘irons’ I have in the ol’ fire is a complete scanning of 4 boxes of “Alma Branch” prints & negatives from the Gibson collection. There are many cool & historical shots taken by both father Bill (WAG Sr) & his son Art (WAG Jr). This amounts to several dozen total images. But oh boy… is there ever some neat stuff here!

The scanning & preparation has been very tedious, to be sure. I’ve already had to start over with some of the scanning. Gotta get it right, ya know! But it sure is tempting to sneak a shot out for posting ahead of time. That’s exactly what I’m doing here. Fellow KS Gang railfan “lilwes” has asked about Harveyville, KS. Through family he has a direct connection to this tiny, former Santa Fe ‘Alma Branch’ town. He is especially interested in shots of the old Santa Fe depot at Harveyville. So when I came across this shot, I just couldn’t hold it back!

Here ya go, Wes. A little ‘spin-off’ image that will be part of a future multipart WAG Wednesday series about the Alma Branch. The original negative isn’t in real sharp focus, no doubt because of the overcast day. But the scene is priceless! Enjoy…

1. AT&SF 3013 is westbound on the ‘Alma Branch’ on February 14, 1953 at Harveyville, KS.
(photo by William A. Gibson Sr.)

Thanks for asking!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Art Gibson (wag216)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/22 20:05 by santafe199.

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Judging by the white flags, it looks to be any extra. Was this is a fantrip?

mopacrr Wrote:
> ...Was this is a fantrip?

Very likely. It looks like Bill & Art and the gang took more than one trip up the Alma Branch back in those days. In the near future Art & I will have to sit down and fill out many, many details for ALL of the images, which I haven't even finished scanning yet...

Lance

The regular trains (#51 and #52) were annulled and run as Extras to get "home" early on Saturday! wag216

Thank you Lance. That is by far the best image of the depot I have seen.
later...Wes

Wes Chiles
Topeka, KS

I can't wait to see more! The Alma Branch is probably my favorite nostalgia subject.

Lucas