Nostalgia & History > Chasing the LK&W: 3rd, (and final!) Half

In March of 2016 I posted a 2-part thread about the adventures four of us senior-type Kansas railfans had chasing the right-of-way of the even older old Leavenworth, Kansas & Western (LK&W) between Miltonvale & Onaga, KS. I know many of you have been patiently awaiting this finale, so I’ll beg your collective pardons. It’s been an incredibly busy spring! Here are links to the first 2 threads:

( https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3996433,3996433#msg-3996433 ) 
( https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3999453,3999453#msg-3999453 )

I had so many images to post it had to be broken into 2 parts which I subtitled 1st half & 2nd half. But since we only covered the western half of the old LK&W I sorta boxed myself into a corner. With a highly sophisticated degree of short-sightedness I didn’t think about having to title another thread covering our eventual chase of the eastern half of the LK&W. So… with tongue in cheek here is my 3rd Half. As always, the captions will carry the story. I’m cramming all of the final 23 images into this thread, so without further ado…

1. On hand are 3 members of the current Kansas Gang. Left to right are: Yours Truly (sometimes known as DJ Sir L), Art Gibson (“wag216”) & Jim Will (“KCRW287”). Before chasing any ghostly right-of-way we opted to start out the with a hearty breakfast at…

2. …the old Santa Fe depot in Leavenworth, KS, now known as “The Depot” restaurant. I’ve eaten there twice now, and this historic establishment at 781 Shawnee St comes highly recommended!

3. Before we leave Leavenworth for the deep dark backwoods of eastern Kansas we had to pay homage to an old and authentic Kansas Central (a narrow gauge predecessor to the LK&W) boxcar sitting on Delaware St, just east of Broadway. It sat for years, more likely decades in some farmer’s field. But it has been rescued, brought into town and fixed up. For some unknown reason the 2017 Google Maps street view show this boxcar without its trucks…



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/22 20:21 by santafe199.

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4. Right-of-way view: We’re looking west from 270th St, about ¼ mile north of the sharp “bend” in KS hwy 192 east of Easton, KS. This road is the actual r.o.w. in this image, but I will be shading in the former r.o.w. in most of the next 19 images.

5. R.O.W. view: We’re looking SE from rural 259th St SE of the Wise Rd “T intersection”, about 3 miles west of Easton, KS.

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6. R.O.W. view: Looking west from 4th St about ½ a block south of Delaware St in Winchester, KS.

7. R.O.W. view: Looking WNW from 7th St (Saline Rd) from just south of the KS hwy 192 bend in NE Winchester, KS.

8. R.O.W. view: Looking north at former LK&W bridge pilings in Brush Creek from rural 162nd St just east of Valley Falls, KS.

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9. R.O.W. view: Looking SE from KS hwy 116 just east of Larkinburg, KS.

10. R.O.W. view: Turned 180 degrees and looking NW into Larkinburg (sorta). For a shot of the ancient Larkinburg grain elevator that still stands and an old B/W photo showing the Larkinburg depot, see this link:  ( https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4008564,4008564#msg-4008564 )

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11. & 12. In a woodsy area about a mile straight north of Larkinburg stands this old LK&W depot. Art thinks it may possibly be the old Arrington, KS depot (about 2½ miles east of Larkinburg, also on KS hwy 116).

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13. R.O.W. view: Looking mostly east, past the old bridge abutment for the Rock Island’s St Joseph, MO ~ Topeka, KS main line. The former LK&W is the shaded area, but that’s not all! The old Missouri Pacific predecessor “Kansas City & Northwestern” (KC&NW) also passed underneath the Rock Island, crossing the LK&W from the upper right to lower left corners. This is a dead end road that peels off of E 8th St in the NE corner of Holton, KS. Must have been quite an area for railfans from a century ago, give or take…

14. R.O.W. view: Looking west from an alleyway just N of 7th St, between Vermont Ave & New Jersey Ave in Holton, KS. The shaded area on the left would be the track serving the still visible remnants of a loading dock.

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15. R.O.W. view: Looking south right off of Mill St/254th Rd. This private residence in Circleville, KS is actually the old LK&W depot which has been heavily modified & added on to. I’ve darkened a r.o.w. path through the front yard, and Art’s opinion is that if the structure isn’t on the exact original location, it’s very close. The structure may have been turned slightly when you take into account that about 50 yards west of it is a…

16. …leftover r.o.w. bridge abutment on the east bank of Elk Creek. The residence in image #15 is sorta visible through the trees in this view looking back ESE.

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17. R.O.W. view: Looking east…

18. …and west from KS hwy 62 (1st St) in Soldier, KS.

19. R.O.W. view: Looking west from 2nd St, also in Soldier, KS.

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20. & 21. R.O.W. view: Looking west from Commercial St/KS hwy 63. This old gas station is the added on part of the even older skeleton(?)/frame(?) of the LK&W depot in Havensville, KS. In image #2 the road along the shaded area is called, appropriately enough “Railway Avenue”.

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22. & 23. R.O.W. view: Looking east & northeast at LK&W rails nearly 100% buried under Leonard (Main) St at the south end of Onaga, KS.

This is the very spot in Onaga where we ended halves #1 & #2 coming from the west, so it’s only fitting we end half #3 here as well coming from the east.

Thanks for riding along!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Art Gibson (wag216)
Jim Will (KCRW287)

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Lance - what an interesting 3 part series.
I love following old RR row and have done so in Texas and Ohio.
Thanks again.

Gary

Fascinating tour! I love this kind of stuff! Thanks for sharing this adventure!

Lee Hower - Sacramento

Thanks, Lance. Helluva tour. I love this kind of stuff. Makes me wonder if anyone in those places nowadays even notices some of the right of way... not much left they'd probably even recognize as railroad... unless they were rail fans/rail nuts like most of us here are...!

Any time you want to post more, have at it!

Walter

Shading the old track was a great idea, thanks.

Ton of work and very well done.

Out

box car is Kansas Central (3 foot). wag216

Fascinating tour.
Thanks for posting this.
Bob

Really enjoyed the tour. Thanks so much for shading the old R.O.W. It allowed me to follow along with the tour. Without it I'd been lost a way back there.
Mark

Really cool! Love seeing old right of ways.

I think I know these guys!

Great work Lance, sorry I missed this trip.

Got to see that depot...I had no idea about that one!

Jeff N
Olathe