Nostalgia & History > Maroon Monday: Big no-no over Ft Riley Blvd

In the fall of 1964 I was beginning 4th grade at Bluemont school at Bluemont & Juliette (aka 7th) Sts. That’s in the NE quadrant of town, over a mile away from this scene. But I remember seeing those crunched up cabeese (cabii??) like it was yesterday. This is the west side of the Rock Island overpass over Ft Riley Blvd on the west side of my hometown of Manhattan. Way too far away for an intrepid 4th grader on a bicycle! So mom must have piled us into the station wagon so we could go see the carnage.

However this nasty crunch-em-up isn’t all these 4th grade eyes remember from the scene. Look at the graffiti on the bridge. The name Wayne and the HS graduation years (I assume) of ’59 & ’61 are clearly visible. Now that I’ve seen them again I vividly remember them. But Wayne wasn’t the only male name scrawled up there. Out of frame to the left were the words “Ralph gets it”. From that day forward I always looked for “Ralph gets it” whenever we came back into town from Grandma’s house in Abilene. Or when the family went home after seeing a feature or 2 at the Skyview Drive-in theater.

At least that’s the way I remember it. At first I didn’t know what “Ralph gets it” meant. As the grade school years turned into junior high years the graffiti was fading from the bridge. But the mystery of what Ralph was getting became clearer all the time. By the time I entered high school in 1970 the lettering was almost gone. But its meaning was now clear as a bell. What surprised me the most was how the Rock Island could let such a “no-no” phrase hang up there in front of God & everybody! Later on I would learn that 1964 was the Rock Island’s last year before all the books started showing red ink. I guess the 15-years-away-from-bankruptcy Rock didn’t see any reason to spend frivolous money to clean up Ralph’s “no-no” activity in high school…

1. CRI&P overpass in Manhattan, KS in September of 1964. Miraculously there were no fatalities here! Evidently the head end crew in the 1321 had ample vision ahead, allowing them enough time to safely “join the birds”…
Scanned from an 8x10 color print by James W. Watson.

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Jim Watson (UP6900)

PS: And you thought “no-no” in my thread title was referring to the collision… ;^)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/23 03:43 by santafe199.

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Damn, what a nasty rear end collision on the Rock Island RR.  Amazing no one was killed in this accident.  Thanks for sharing James Watson image.

At that time is when the 132i became a chopped nose Geep. wag216

A  photo truely showing an example of the horrific danger of wooden cabooses.
Bob

Thanks for posting Lance.  Looks like 2 cabooses.

Randy Lundgren

texchief1 Wrote:
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> Thanks for posting Lance.  Looks like 2
> cabooses.
>
> Randy Lundgren
Yes and now there are 1.5 cabooses.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

I could easily imagine crunching a wooden caboose, but I’m surprised by how much damage it did to the geep. Steel underframe, I suppose. 

wag216 Wrote:
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> At that time is when the 132i became a chopped
> nose Geep. wag216

As far as I know, the low nose 1321 can still be found today at the Kaskaskia Regional Port District operating near Baldwin, IL.   It definitely is a "survivor" for multiple reasons with this wreck being one big example.

I laughed so hard about your MoPac BL2 commentary, posted earlier this date (and read yesterday), and worried that the neighbors were wondering what was going on. But it was a cool, rainy day, and the windows were closed, and so the laughter was probably muffled...a bit. Today, though, the windows are open...for the first time this spring! (it's been a very cool and wet spring in Michigan). And the neighbors must really be wondering about the midday frivolity and guffaws wafting out the windows. Two great stories...thanks for the laughs. And another very interesting image, too.

Oh, and  glad nobody was hurt, of course. Sorry the cabeese got reduced to matchsticks. And the Geep? I've seen it at the Kaskaskia River Port District, and have a slide somewhere, probably. So far as I know, not Ralph though. Hope he's doing okay. Still.

MC
Muskegon, Michigan



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/20 10:49 by ironmtn.

The Rock was apparently already looking for a merger partner.  Too bad it was itself.

That had to be a "fun" job clearing that mess from the bridge.

I assume that bridge no longer exists?

Sure miss the Rock.

dan in wichita
 

superfleet Wrote: > ...  bridge no longer exists? ...

Correct. I don't know exactly when, but between Jim Watson & me, we think it was finally torn out in the mid 1980s. I believe the last running of any MK power was in November of 1980, I have a few Mark Sinonson traders slide of this "last train". But I have scanned a few Jim Watson slides with that show that blue & white Brandon Alco running short trains west of Manhattan as late as February 1981. I searched Wiki for anything on the Wabash Valley, but the info they offer is pretty vague...

Lance