Nostalgia & History > Special StJ&GI project

When I asked Art Gibson (WAG Jr) a few of my standard questions about this 2¾ x 4½ print he went over the moon with gratitude. He’d been keeping an eye out for this picture for quite some time. Turns out it was stuffed like a bookmark in a booklet with 6 other completely miscellaneous prints, all of which have been scanned. From what I know about the Gibson chronology it has to be one of the earliest railfan photographs his father Bill (WAG Sr) ever took. Bill was born in 1910(?) so he would have been in his mid teenage years when he snapped this photo. Trying not to erase any pertinent details I had to do some fancy editing to get this image where it is. And I confessed to Art that I almost didn’t scan it because it was in such bad shape. But now we’re both glad I just happened to mention this photo in one pf our routine phone conversations.

Art gave me some more interesting details which can also be found in Mr Imre Quastler’s wonderful booklet: Union Pacific West From Leavenworth (South Platte Press-1999). Page #81 is a copy of UP’s ETT dated June 5, 1927 for the “Leavenworth Western Branch”. It shows train #515, a motor-passenger time of 6:25 PM @ Winchester. Trains #515/516 ran between Garrison & Leavenworth, while trains #521/522 ran between Miltonvale & Onaga. All 4 of these trains had “common ground” between Onaga & Garrison, and the whole schedule was setup to make passenger connections more convenient between this former LK&W line and the Topeka ~ Marysville ~ Lincoln main line (connection at Onaga), and the more heavily travelled Topeka ~ Denver (KP) main line (connection at Garrison).

My friend Jim Will (a much better historian than me) helped out with some of the details above, and may be able to add some more later on…

1. StJ&GI McKeen gas motorcar #111 is stopped as UP train #515 at the depot in Winchester, KS circa 1925. Bill’s paraphrased print notes: “My friend, the motorman: Clarence Cole”.
B/W print by William A. Gibson (WAG) Sr.

Ain’t this a great hobby!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Art Gibson (wag216)



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/23 02:58 by santafe199.

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Lance, this is a very historical photo, a St Joe & GI McKeen car on the LK&W, but also a trailer probably #1 or #8, both were 4 axle trailers. #1 was rebuilt to 4 axles, I think #8 came with 4 axles.  Earlier trailers were 2 axle trailers that were rough riding and easy to come off the rails and get drug along the tracks. I have an article about the St Jo & GI having a headon wreck between 2 motorcars east of Baileyville, and I am wondering if the flat nose was part of a rebuilding. I am gone over the local papers up to 1916 and the UP hasn't put on motor cars on this line to Miltonvale. I cannot tell if this was an original engined McKeen or if rebuilt to a better power system. Thanks for putting this on. KCRW287

Very interesting shot, :Lance!  Thanks for posting.

RC Lundgren

A true gem!
Bob

Interurbans Without Wires shows St. Joseph & Grand Island 111 as a 70', 48-seat McKeen built in 1909 and retired in 1944.  Wonder how long it actually operated.

Omigosh, Lance.  That's fabulous.  Thanks, Art!

Bob Willer

Just a bit more about the train #515 photo.. Dad was working during his Senior high school  year, so 1926-1927. WAG was born 30Aug1908.
The power for the  "other" side of #515-#516 was the StJ&GI M-115. As mentioned early, T-1 and T-8 were the trailers. I think that the T-8 is at
the museum at Union, IL with the U P M-35 . I hope that Jim E will get his UP motor car book shortly. wag216

Lance, Art and Jim:

Another super post.  Thanks to all of you for preserving this history!

Jeff N

You did very well with the scan on that neg.
sd-45
 

Man, that's neat!  Thanks for sharing this.

- Jeff

SD45 Wrote: > ...  You did very well with the scan ...

Thanks Lynn! And thanks everyone else for the good word. This small print was actually a 2-step process. 1) Darken & add contrast to find what little deatil was there, and 2) Erase as many scratch marks as possible without erasing the pilot detail. I experimented with eliminating the misty-light areas, but this also eliminated what little detail was there.

Lance