Nostalgia & History > The depots of Merle T. Graves.

This installment of depot by Merle T. Graves 6 depots starting with "C".
1) Carbondale, KS. taken on 7-18-1953
2) Cassoday, KS. taken on 7-8-1956
3) Chase, KS. taken on 4-19-1970
4) Cedar Point, KS. taken on 9-30-1953
5) Cedar Point, KS. taken on 8-31-1959
6) Cheney, KS. taken on 8-29-1959

Wes Chiles
Topeka, KS

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Wes Chiles
Topeka, KS

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These are a fascinating piece of history.
Bob

I love seeing these old depots. I remember some of them, some were gone before my time.

Keep posting!

Many thanks for posting this thread! I've been wondering if I'd EVER see any color shots of the Cedar Point depot, from any source. I remember a family trip there very early in the 1960s when I was in the 1st or 2nd grade. I don't remember the drive over US 50 from Strong City to Cedar Point. But I do remember crossing over 2 main tracks to go into the town of Cedar Point. I must not have seen any trains, because I had no idea in those days that it was THE Santa Fe mainline. Sigh...

Lance/199

Posted from Android

Could the first Cedar Point photo be from 1923 rather than 1953?

Milwaukee Wrote:

> Could the first Cedar Point photo be from 1923
> rather than 1953?

Not likely. Santa Fe didn't adopt the Colonial Yellow/Bronze Green color scheme for depots until roughly 1920. Prior to that, depots were Mineral Red/Bronze Green, and the two schemes are very easy to distinguish in almost every kind of black and white photo. It took over a decade to get the yellow scheme applied to all the frame depots on the system. The paint on Cedar Point in the earlier photo is already well worn and partially redone, which suggests the original coat it wasn't applied within the previous 3 years.

By the mid-50's, the Bronze Green trim began to be painted yellow instead and the white window sashes were frequently repainted yellow as well, giving rise to the scheme on the depot in the 1959 photo.

The windows are beautiful on the Carbondale depot!
Also, I don't remember ever seeing such a large bay window extension like that at Cedar Point.
Thanks for the station tour Wes!

mp51w Wrote:

> Also, I don't remember ever seeing such a large
> bay window extension like that at Cedar Point.

Santa Fe built those large bay windows to accommodate interlocking machines at stations where such arrangements were necessary. They were quite common on stations in Illinois and Missouri, with scattered installations elsewhere.