Nostalgia & History > Toto Tuesday: Just another F consist?

Not when it’s 51 years after the fact! So it’s not full blazing sunshine? Who cares! A slight bit of speed blur? No problem! This, my fellow TO friends is a once-typical Santa Fe main line consist. An A-B-B-B consist on a work-a-day manifest roaming the Eastern Division 2nd District between Argentine & Emporia. The iconic, ancient US hwy 59 overpass is intact. The Ottawa main line depot still has the stand-up red lettering at either end of the flatly sloped roof. There’s a baggage cart on the platform which will be used for another 2½ years. In May of 1971 Ottawa’s last passenger train, the “Tulsan” (#211 & #212) will run out its final miles.

My friend & fellow TO member John Wegner can’t specifically remember if he played hooky from his classes at the University of Kansas to get this shot. Or if maybe he took advantage of an extra few days off around Thanksgiving. No matter… the “everyday” shot he took back in 1968 now has everything except the sky missing from it. Two pieces of unseen trackage are gone: The old Eastern Division 3rd District main line to Tulsa -peeling off directly behind John’s shooting position- and the old Baldwin District coming down from Baldwin City -out of frame to the left- is gone. The baggage cart is hopefully in a collection somewhere. The depot lettering is gone and the depot building has been drastically cut down in size to serve the M.O.W. gang. The platform has been replaced with well manicured ballast and the US 59 overpass has been rebuilt & widened.

Oh yeah, the F units have been gone off the Santa Fe roster since the 1970s. And golly jeepers Wally, even the Santa Fe itself is gone…

1. AT&SF 260C leads 6000 horses of a typical F-unit consist on a westbound boxcar-laden manifest by the main line depot in Ottawa, KS in November of 1968.
(Scanned from an original slide by John Wegner)

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
John Wegner (chiefbuilder)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/22 03:21 by santafe199.

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Really NICE shot! Like the Great Northern boxcar. Sure brings back good memories.

Larry

It is amazing how the years can change a common moment into treasure.
Bob

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In May of 1971 Ottawa’s
> last passenger train, the “Tulsan” (#211 &
> #212) will run out its final miles.

Did Amtrak 3 and 4 not stop in Ottawa during the time it was still routed that way? (1971-1979)

> Two pieces of unseen trackage are gone: The old
> Eastern Division 3rd District main line to Tulsa
> -peeling off directly behind John’s shooting
> position- and the old Baldwin District coming down
> from Baldwin City -out of frame to the left- is
> gone

The Baldwin line is most definitely intact. The Midland Railway has even created a for-profit subsidiary to solicit freight traffic.

Posted from iPhone

Richie Kennedy
Lawrence, KS
route56.com

route56 Wrote: > ...  The Baldwin line is most definitely intact ...

Yep... that was big time misleading on my part. What I meant was it's long gone as an active Santa Fe branch. Sorry 'bout that...

And no, Amtrak trains #3 & #4 never stopped at Ottawa. Which I've always wondered about...

Lance



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/19 16:50 by santafe199.

I'm not arguing, just asking:  Isn't the depot building itself gone, and the only thing left, besides the concrete pad it sat on, is a garage built on the west end? 
And it's funny to see that truss on the old US59 bridge.  Of course, with the bypass, that's a lot safer spot to shoot these days!  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA