Nostalgia & History > Warbonnet Wednesday: Newton, KS

After reconnecting with an old Santa Fe crony last fall at a train show/swap meet I was surprised to discover he was a camera-totin’ railfan like I was. But digging back through my old timebooks I could only find one time when Middle Division engineer John LaGesse & I actually worked together. So I guess I can be forgiven for not knowing he was a railfan back in those long gone 1980s.

A short while back I met John in Lawrence for a ‘cuppa joe’ and some extensive reminiscing! You know how it goes: while one of us was relating a Santa Fe memory, the other would remember 2 or 3 more stories, and so on and so forth. We ended up pleasantly killing a couple of hours. I even put in a successful recruitment spiel about joining TO.com! He’s now on board as “atsfer”.

The whole time we were spinning tales & memories I was scouring through a bunch of slides John had brought along. He was streamlining a boxcar load of secondary slides & trading dupes out of his collection, and I happily relieved him of a few dozen. Most of the slides are still in the plastic baggie I came home from Lawrence with. But I liked one of his trader extras so much I had to scan it right away and run it through Photoshop for today’s Warbonnet Wednesday:

1. AT&SF Warbonnet 513 heads up a Santa Fe “Employee Days Special” in Newton, KS. Lots of memories in this image for ‘yours truly’! Way back there we see the red nose of a brand new 200-class engine, which was made available for public inspection. And that big tent is located right in front of the Middle Division office building. This is more or less where I got hired into train service with the Santa Fe back in 1978. Of course I can remember many times riding trains over these tracks. And during the daylight shift train dispatcher & railfan Ron Coppock (“RCC” on our train orders and clearance cards) would be at the second story window with a smile and a friendly wave. I also remember the ancient train sheds which I’m sad to see have been removed. Looking at the concrete platform fingers between the main tracks we see remnants of the prime era of Santa Fe passenger service. With up to 2 dozen daily 1st class trains arriving for extended service stops, it’s easy to see how Newton could quickly become a beehive of activity several times during a given 24 hour period.
Photo by John LaGesse, taken on October 17, 1992.

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
John LaGesse (atsfer)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/22 03:46 by santafe199.

---

Thanks for the post.

I hate to nitpick, but could the unit in the background be an 800 class? The 200's were not delivered until 1995, I believe.

Jack

Lance,
That first picture is so sharp it
jumps off the screen!


Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

ts1457 Wrote: > ... The 200's were not delivered until 1995 ...

I'm sure you're right. On the phone John was really trying hard to remember what the unit number was, and he may have said "8-oh-something", and I just misunderstood him. And now that I think about it, weren't the 200s the very last group of locomotives ever purchased by Uncle John Santa Fe?? I was up in the big sky at the time...

Lance/199

retcsxcfm Wrote: > ...  That --- picture is so sharp it jumps off the screen!

Yeah, it sure does. It's easy to see why I couldn't wait to get it posted...

Lance

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ts1457 Wrote: > ... The 200's were not delivered
> until 1995 ...
>
> I'm sure you're right. On the phone John was
> really trying hard to remember what the unit
> number was, and he may have said "8-oh-something",
> and I just misunderstood him. And now that I
> think about it, weren't the 200s the very last
> group of locomotives ever purchased by Uncle John
> Santa Fe?? I was up in the big sky at the time...
>
> Lance/199


Correct, those SD75M's were the last delivered. A few of that order showed up with BNSF lettering if I remember right.

Nathan

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> retcsxcfm Wrote: > ...  That --- picture is so
> sharp it jumps off the screen!
>
> Yeah, it sure does. It's easy to see why I
> couldn't wait to get it posted...
>
> Lance

Maybe the best image of a Warbonnet - EVER. Besides it brings back my Newton memories. While growing up in Topeka, we went to Newton every Memorial Day for a family reunion. My paternal grandparents and great grandparents are buried there. One of the highlights of the day was when our parents would let us walk over to the ATSF main and watch No. 8 - The Fast Mail. Thinking back on how young my brother and I were in those years, our parents (in this day and age)would probably have Child Protection called on them for letting us walk alone about six blocks and letting us stand by the tracks to wave at the engineer. Sorry I never got a Brownie picture of that.

My cousins' home was only one block from the MOP main through Newton and a couple of times we had a freight come by on the holiday. Thanks for triggering my Newton memories.

BB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/18 12:05 by bmarti7.

Yes it was another picture I was thinking of with the ATSF 205 in it, I am not sure what the other engine in this picture is.

NICE Warbonnet picture!!

Larry

atsf121 Wrote:

> Correct, those SD75M's were the last delivered. A
> few of that order showed up with BNSF lettering if
> I remember right.

The first order of SD75M's, 200-250, all showed up in mid-1995 in full Santa Fe lettering. The next order that arrived in late 1995 and early 1996, 8251-8275, were all BNSF-lettered red and silver.

I agree that looks like another GE nose down there on the left (the 200's had the headlight above the windshield). The 800's and the second order of 500's were new in 1992.

Definitely a nice shot of a too-good-to-last era on the Santa Fe.