Nostalgia & History > WAG Wednesday: Texas bound for St Louis

In the fall of 1962 Topeka, KS was a stop over point for a rolling donation to the National Museum of Transportation in St Louis. One of AT&SF’s retired “Texas” type 2-10-4s had been saved from the scrapper’s torch with this gesture. Santa Fe fans everywhere were ecstatic, and likely none more than our* Bill Gibson (WAG Sr) who was on hand in Topeka to record a few Kodachrome slides. Bill even tried a form of photography he almost never tried during his shooting days: night time photography.

During this October 1962 occasion AT&SF #5011 spent a day & night on public display on the north (TT east) side of the Santa Fe passenger station at 4th & Holliday Streets. By 1962 dieselization was firmly established in the RR industry and steam was fast becoming a distant memory. But with donations such as this one, and display engines in hundreds of locations around the country an entirely new generation of railfans (pick mine!) could see & touch & appreciate steam locomotives in person. At least up to a point.

*The reason I chose the word ‘our’ is because Bill’s son Art (WAG Jr) & I are convinced ‘W.A.G. Senior’ would have loved the Trainorders.com concept. Unfortunately he passed away in 1983, long before TO was a technological reality. Where Art’s TO screen name of “wag216” uses his favorite RR number, there is no doubt Bill would have been “wag2811” here on TO, thereby using his favorite RR number. And Bill’s unending railfan generosity is the main reason Art gave a green light to the WAG Wednesday project we have had ongoing since April 2011…

1. 2. & 3. Santa Fe “Texas” type 2-10-4 5011 sits in a stub track just north of the passenger station in Topeka, KS. Bill covered all angles. Included is image #2, a vertical side shot of the front end… a favorite of his. In image #3 we can just spot the corner of the old yard office behind the 5011’s tender, plus a zebra switcher and yard tracks. Starting with (I dare say) the 5 attending gentlemen, EVERYTHING in the scene is now gone, except for the platform. Even that -could it be??- old Checker taxi cab crossing 4th St?

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A couple more shots:

4. Santa Fe provided a classy touch, in this information poster board for the visiting public.

5. Bill attempted a few time-exposure photos. I believe another 20 seconds might have worked better with this black engine against the black of night. “I wish I could have been there to give you a hand, my friend! But in the fall of 1962 I was only in the 2nd grade. My own voyage into the art of time-exposure, available light photography wouldn’t start for another 14 years…”
Five photos taken October 23, 1962 by William A. Gibson (WAG) Sr.

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Art Gibson (wag216)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/22 23:33 by santafe199.

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Nice series. Beautiful locomotive.

The sign is fascinating.
We need a "math" guy to break it down. Miles per month, cost per mile, etc, etc.

The number that really sticks out is 11, as in only 11 years of service.

That piece of equipment was good for another 30 years easily, had it been needed.

Posted from Android

$2.03 per pound!

I would have been 12 at the time, not sure how I missed a move like that. If my folks knew about it, or maybe saw it in the paper, they never mentioned it. It might have been a night move, sneaked in on the St. Joe local too. Regardless, I missed it. I do remember firing with Jim Stubenhofer out of Emporia once, he told me he had "messengered" that engine from Newton to Emporia, a few days before Bill took those photos. Noticed his obit a short time back by the way. And I do have a nice 6 chime Santa Fe whistle somewhere around here, but not that one. In the late 70's that very spot where the engine is displayed, was where the Santa Fe Hoghead simulator school was located in two or three former passenger cars. I spent six weeks there, unlearning a lot of the stuff Jim and the others had taught me.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/19 12:07 by LocoPilot750.

Santa Fe sure donated a lot of engines around the country.

Lance, thanks to you and the WAG's for posting these pictures.  They have sure brought back tons of memories for me.  m420 comments about "number that stands out" and LocoPilot750 comments just added to the memories.

As far as numbers standing out for me the 1944 build date for the 5011 is also my birth year.  The date of the photographs (1962) is the year I began work as a fireman on the Santa Fe.  Mr. Garrett's comments about the engineer training cars sitting where the 5011 is sitting brings back memories.  The simulator car and class room car were on the track where the 5011 is sitting and the office car was on the near track.  They had made up the so called training center in the passenger cars so they could move it from terminal to terminal as needed but didn't realize the fragilness of the simulator so they just parked them there in Topeka and brought the trainees there for training.  I had attended engineer training there in 1972.  Then in 1978 they brought me in as an instructor.

That partial view of the Topeka Yard Office is great to see also.  I would make several trips each week up to the 2nd floor of the yard office to make copies of correspondence which we had to send out to the various terminals where the trainees were from as we didn't have a copier of our own.

Dennis mentioned about Jim Stubenhofer "messengering" the 5011.  I also messengered 2 or 3 steam engines from Newton to Emporia.  I do not have a 1962 time book but do not show any such moves in '63 or '64 so had to have been in '62 since I was severed in May of '64.  I remember one of the moves was the Cyrus K. Holliday but don't have any idea what the other(s) were.  When I was called as a messenger the first time I had no idea what I was suppose to do.  Located the engineer and he said I needed to ride in the rear diesel locomotive and keep a watch on the running gear on both sides for any smoke, fire, or sparks and to let him know if I detected anything out of the ordinary.  I didn't like working as a messenger as it didn't pay much, a couple of dollars less than the fireman's rate.  Also the Cyrus K. had a 25 or 35 mph speed restriction so made for a longer trip than normal.  Sometime thereafter they quit moving it on it's own running gear.

Just some thoughts.................Mark (also a Texas like the 5011)       

Can't believe that engine has been at NMOT over 60 years.  I remember when she arrived.
Beautiful (except for those damned whitewalls)!