Nostalgia & History > Then & Now: Mixed bag at Mud Creek

I started out with only image #6 to build this thread around. I was gonna do one of those “Good Morning from ____” things. But then I ran across a trader slide I acquired in 1979 from old friend Dan Warren who lived in Lawrence, KS at the time. He traded me a slide he took in 1978 of a westbound train out east of town at Mud Creek. Dan caught the manifest rolling by the cement bridge supports that lifted the old Kansas City, Kaw Valley & Western Ry over UP’s double mainline. This very interesting interurban shortline was shortened even further in 1949 when its trackage was pulled up between Bonner Springs & Lawrence. The name was shortened as well to the “Kansas City & Kaw Valley”.

Once I found I found Dan’s trader slide it took very little digging to find 4 mores images from Mud Creek. I’ve put all 6 images in chronological order, and the captions will finish the story:

1. UP 2830 rolls over Mud Creek and past the old KCKV&W overpass supports east of town. Date: March of 1978.
(Photo taken by Dan Warren)

2. Six years later I paid my first visit to the sight. Mama Nature has begun to reclaim her land, starting with a few young saplings & the beginnings of some heavy underbrush.
Date: October 8, 1984.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/22 20:46 by santafe199.

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Pardon me, whist I spend 23 out of the next 29 years in the Big Sky working for Montana Rail Link…

3. UP’s Southern Pacific heritage unit 1996 makes an appearance in 2013. This was maybe the second or third time I visited Mud Creek since moving back to Kansas in 2010.

4. Before the 1996 arrived I had taken a look at the trees & brush. Even in winter with no leaves and other foliage it’s getting kinda hard to see the supports…
(2 photos taken February 19, 2013)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/22 20:48 by santafe199.

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5. Here’s another look a little over a year later, That’s actually the Missouri Pacific heritage unit #1982 on the point of the train rolling away in a heavy overcast (see: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3352990,3352990#msg-3352990 ). No point in looking for old bridge supports when there is heritage action to be photographed. Date: March 5, 2014.

6. In an angle very similar to image #5 here’s a shot I took 2 days ago. I had hoped for a train coming at me out of the sunrise. But apparently Uncle Pete didn’t have enough trains to go around this particular morning. A hazy-pale burning sun is just out of frame above the left side of the image. Date: February 4, 2016.
(Trespassing disclaimer: photos 3-6 taken from the Alexander Rd crossing. For photos 1 & 2 all bets are off… ;^)

Thanks for looking back & forth!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/22 20:49 by santafe199.

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Between MP36 and the curve 1.5 miles away, this is a very good place to see bald eagles in the winter time.  About a year ago, I counted about 20.

imrl Wrote: > ... About a year ago, I counted about 20...

That's a huge bunch. There was a spot west of Big Timber, MT (on MRL) in the pines between the RR & the Yellowstone River where eagles would congregate. But I never saw more than a half dozen or so at a time. Unfortunately I had quit carrying my camera by this time...

Lance/199