Railroaders' Nostalgia > My late debut at WB Jct

It was my first-ever visit to the Santa Fe mainline in northern Missouri east of Kansas City. Trouble was, I happened to be a tad bit late to actually shoot the Santa Fe. (For ‘tad bit’ substitute 14 years!) But I had somehow avoided this prime railfanning area a lot longer than the 14 some-odd years since the birth of the BNSF. During the 70s & 80s I logged several dozens of hours spread over numerous railfanning trips to Kansas City. After becoming a Santa train-service employee I did manage to bag a few vestibule shots while riding #16 up to Chicago on Amtrak (3 times in 1979) and #4 (one time in 1980). But I never once got out of the city limits of KCMO while in an automobile. The only time I can recall “railfanning” east of Kansas City was in the fall (?) of 1975. This would be almost a year before I had the sense to pick up a camera and start shooting ‘train pictures’. It would also be over 2 years before I would embark on my career in train service.

In the spring of 1975 I had met this model railroader at a Kansas City area model RR swap meet/convention. He was also a “railfan”, but I had no clue what really defined the term railfan. And I dang sure never thought I could ever be a photographer of trains & such. But this particular modeler/railfan photographer by the name of Keith Wilhite & I really hit it off. He was about my age and as that convention was winding down he invited me to “come on over to the big city some time” and he would show me his favorite railfanning spots. I was intrigued and I took him up on his offer at my earliest opportunity. Toward the end of the summer I made that fateful journey east from Manhattan. I had alerted Keith that I was a fan of the Santa Fe: “all the way”. He kept that in mind as he took me all over Kansas City. His grand tour centered around a trip over to see Santa Fe’s huge single track bridge over the Missouri River at Sibley. But he didn’t stop there! He also took me around to the north side and showed me how to get right up to the bridge. Along that drive he told me wondrous tales of railfanning the paired trackage utilized by the Santa Fe & its partner, the N&W. I remember hearing him relate tale after tale, using exotic RR location names like Floyd & Orrick & Hardin & Henrietta & Carrollton & CA Jct, and yes: WB Jct pictured below.

Two very treasured highlight memories from that day were my very first-ever visits to both Santa Fe Jct. Interlocking & the famous Kansas River levee overlooking the massive Argentine Diesel Shops engine yard. Keith waited until the end of our busy & magical day before he took me to both of these spots. I think he knew what he was doing, all right! It was well after after sundown and the inky-black darkness only enhanced the railfan magic that had me hypnotized all day long. All these 39 years later I can still vividly remember the sheer excitement of the panorama from that levee & the overpowering enormity of the moment. Not to mention the collective sound of dozens of diesel engines idling down below. The hook was IN! Keith had steered my life’s course through a door. It would be a one-way door that I could never step back through. And that door would ultimately lead to employment with my beloved Santa Fe.

I returned home to Manhattan late that night with my head spinning. An aggressive seed had been planted but it wouldn’t germinate until May of 1978 when Trainmaster Tom Shalin hired me into Santa Fe train service in Newton, KS. My career in railroading would of course enable me to railfan in many situations & places not readily accessible to ‘civilians’. This would include passenger train rides over the very paired trackage Keith had opened my eyes to a few short years before.

Funny thing about railfanning WB Jct, though. I first heard about its existence in 1975, but I suffered a slight delay before making my first-ever railfan visit (2010 in my own car). I was distracted by a RR career over 3 decades long…

1. AMTK 54 leads train #4 through a turnout switch back onto pure BNSF trackage at WB Jct.

2. The rear end is now clear of the turnout’s speed restriction and by the look of the engine exhaust the Southwest Chief is now in ‘run-8’. Track speed is just a few seconds away!
(2 photos taken just west of Carrollton, MO on December 1, 2010.)

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/14 06:29 by santafe199.

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Great story, Lance.

Ah yes, the first big trip "Goin' to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come". My intro to the KC area, and to the Santa Fe at Sugar Creek, Santa Fe Jct., Sibley Bridge, CA and WB Junctions, occurred about the same time. I made an early summer trip one year (1975, I think) in my first car, a wonderful (????) canary-yellow Chevy Vega. My first high school teaching job out of college, my first big railfan trip on my own. And the Santa Fe, long a favorite from afar in my hometown of St. Louis, was the target.

Rather than take I-70 all the way into town, I took "the scenic route". I stayed the first night in Lexington, Mo., then headed into KC along US 24 after a quick early morning visit to some of the historic sites at Lexington. During a visit to Fort Osage at Sibley, the first revelation was Sibley Bridge. I had ridden across it on Amtrak No. 4 a couple of years earlier, but still it was very exciting to see. Next came the Sugar Creek area, with time there and at the MP junction at Eton, and the grade crossing at Courtney, great spots both now inaccessible. Gradually I worked my way into KC, and found my way to Santa Fe Jct. (then as now, you kinda need to know how to get there), another revelation. Operations then were so much different than today. The new flyover of course did not exist, and the upper level of the Kaw River bridge was hardly used. Other than the frequent Santa Fe trains, transfers dominated the day, but also afforded views of lots of interesting power. Then the "piece de resistance", the overlook along Metropolitan Ave. in Kansas City, Kans., east of Argentine Yard. Just a big block of concrete then (an old bridge abutment I think), it gave a marvelous view of the Santa Fe along the Kaw River with the downtown KC, Mo. skyline behind. Regrettably, also no longer an available perch. After a couple of days in KC absorbing this and a lot more, it was homeward bound again via "the scenic route" via WB and CA Junctions and the Santa Fe from Orrick to Carrollton.

I have visited all of these locations more many times since then. It was then, and remains today, easily one of the very best railfan locations in the nation, if not the world. Everybody I've ever helped tour the area has been awed by it all. If you have not chalked it up on your "railfan bucket list", you simply MUST do it. You will NOT regret it.

Lance was lucky enough to go on and enter train service with Santa Fe. That was not my path, although as he and I have discussed, it had almost happened for me at Corwith Yard in Chicago about a year earlier. Many times I've thought about that, and the different career path I might have taken. But for both of us, it seems, there will always be reason to say, or sing, "Goin' to Kansas City! Kansas City here I come!"

Be sure that you do the same.

MC
Columbia, Missouri



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/14 05:52 by ironmtn.

ironmtn Wrote:
> ..."Goin' to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come"...

That's quite a stirring confirmation of a first-time visit to Kansas City from a mid-1970's/railfan viewpoint! It would have really been something if we had bumped into each at least once during those golden days. KC had such a large volume of railroading even if it was packed into a relatively small area compared to, say Chicago. I guess you could still go fanning all over KC and never bump into another fan doing the exact same thing. My favorite method used to be to spend a whole day chasing around KC with no specific agenda. The train & transfer movements always seemed to dictate when & where the car would point next. And with 12 major RRs to choose from there was never a problem with variety. It's a sad fact of railfanning life that nothing will ever be the same forever. But then that's precisely what makes railfanning (with or without photography) so viable & poignant!

One more topic, then I'll quit gushing: I believe you've done the late Mr Wilbert Harrison* proud with your recalling of the lyrics he once sang!
Here are some more: (I think we all secretly know he would have preferred the train, right? :^)

"Well I might take a plane... I might take a train
But if I have to walk... I'm goin' just the same...
I'm Goin' to Kansas City.........

*"Kansas City" was a #1 smash for Wilbert Harrison (who passed away in 1994). It broke into the Billboard Top-40 in April of 1959 (back when there were NUMEROUS passenger trains in & out of KC). The tune occupied the #1 slot for 2 weeks, riding the chart a total of 12 weeks. 'Kansas City' also charted for Trini Lopez, but nowhere close to the success Harrison had with it. It was written by the prolific song-writing team of Jerry Lieber & Mike Stoller. A quick look with the Bing search engine yields 3 other artists who covered, but didn't have chart success with the tune: Wanda Jackson, Fats Domino & Willie Nelson. (Come to think of it, can anybody name a tune the Willie DID NOT cover... ;^)

DJ Sir L



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/14 07:30 by santafe199.

Ahh, Sir Lance, what memories doth you elicit.

WB Junction: If you think about it for a while, you can figure
out how it got its name from the merging of the Wabash and Santa
Fe. And Lance, consider yourself fortunate you didn't get there
until you did. I also did not make it there until after the
BNSF merger, when it was a FORREST of telephone and communication
lines poles. Today, as in your shot, the poles are gone, but
the grade crossings across the tracks to get to non-railroad
private property are gated.

Wilbur Harrison and "Kansas City": I am old enough to remember
hearing this song on the air, not old enough to have played it as
a current however, and it was extremely popular in its day. Lots
and lots of dancing done to this, although not by me, worse luck.

The former Santa Fe, now BNSF Transcon, remains a great place to
go, as does Kansas City, Missouri or Kansas.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

santafe199 Wrote:
----------------------------------------------
> > ..."Goin' to Kansas City, Kansas City here I
> come"...
> One more topic, then I'll quit gushing: I believe
> you've done the late Mr Wilbert Harrison* proud
> with your recalling of the lyrics he once sang!
> Here are some more: (I think we all secretly know
> he would have preferred the train, right? :^)
>
> "Well I might take a plane... I might take a
> train
> But if I have to walk... I'm goin' just the
> same...
> I'm Goin' to Kansas City.........
>
> *"Kansas City" was a #1 smash for Wilbert Harrison
> (who passed away in 1994). It broke into the
> Billboard Top-40 in April of 1959 (back when there
> were NUMEROUS passenger trains in & out of KC).
> The tune occupied the #1 slot for 2 weeks, riding
> the chart a total of 12 weeks. 'Kansas City' also
> charted for Trini Lopez, but nowhere close to the
> success Harrison had with it. It was written by
> the prolific song-writing team of Jerry Lieber &
> Mike Stoller. A quick look with the Bing search
> engine yields 3 other artists who covered, but
> didn't have chart success with the tune: Wanda
> Jackson, Fats Domino & Willie Nelson. (Come to
> think of it, can anybody name a tune the Willie
> DID NOT cover... ;^)
>
> DJ Sir L

I have a version by Muddy Waters on the iPod in my truck. It came around just the other day and I was toe tapping while I drove. That doesn't happen very often, very catchy tune.

This is a great thread about America's number two railroad center. My entire family came from the Kansas City area and most were railroaders with such lines as Kansas City Union Terminal, Missouri Pacific, Santa Fe, and Kansas City Southern. Although I was born and raised in northern California, our vacation trips to KC were the big event for my family. Listening to family member's stories about the "Pioneer Zephyr," the UP M-10000, the "Southern Belle," "Missouri River Eagle," and Santa Fe's "Chiefs" was a highlight of each visit. However, our visits to local railroad facilities like MP's Neff Yard, KCS and Milwaukee Road at Joint Agency Yard, Union Station's Coach Yard, plus Argentine, Murray and Armstrong Yards, etc. were what I looked forward to most. Younger railroaders and railfans should have seen KC with 12 railroads and the myriad of locomotive models, passenger trains and color schemes that made our trips there from California the highlights of my year. The KC railroad scene has certainly changed since those visits decades ago, but it is still a great place to see and experience railroading. I know my now-departed railroader relatives would enjoy this thread and its stories as much as I do. Thanks again for these posts!

ShastaDaylight

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ironmtn Wrote:
> > ..."Goin' to Kansas City, Kansas City here I
> come"...
>
> That's quite a stirring confirmation of a
> first-time visit to Kansas City from a
> mid-1970's/railfan viewpoint! It would have really
> been something if we had bumped into each at least
> once during those golden days.

Stranger things have happened. And they were indeed golden days. What I'd give now for much of what I saw and experienced back then.

> KC had such a large
> volume of railroading even if it was packed into a
> relatively small area compared to, say Chicago. I
> guess you could still go fanning all over KC and
> never bump into another fan doing the exact same
> thing. My favorite method used to be to spend a
> whole day chasing around KC with no specific
> agenda. The train & transfer movements always
> seemed to dictate when & where the car would point
> next. And with 12 major RRs to choose from there
> was never a problem with variety.

All absolutely true. The variety was, and even now still is in today's much condensed form, terrific. And as for railfanning: just the way I have done it too, and pretty much still do.

> It's a sad fact
> of railfanning life that nothing will ever be the
> same forever. But then that's precisely what makes
> railfanning (with or without photography) so
> viable & poignant!

Couldn't agree more.

> One more topic, then I'll quit gushing: I believe
> you've done the late Mr Wilbert Harrison* proud
> with your recalling of the lyrics he once sang!

Glad to do so. That song, and his rendition, is one of my very favorites.

> Here are some more: (I think we all secretly know
> he would have preferred the train, right? :^)
>
> "Well I might take a plane... I might take a
> train
> But if I have to walk... I'm goin' just the
> same...
> I'm Goin' to Kansas City.........

Great lyrics. I've done two of the three to get there (air and rail) a bunch of times each (and of course I've gone by car). And I've gone by Greyhound, too, including driving a Greyhound bus many times when I drove for them for several years. But I haven't walked there. But who knows?

> *"Kansas City" was a #1 smash for Wilbert Harrison
> (who passed away in 1994). It broke into the
> Billboard Top-40 in April of 1959 (back when there
> were NUMEROUS passenger trains in & out of KC).
> The tune occupied the #1 slot for 2 weeks, riding
> the chart a total of 12 weeks.

There are a number of recordings of the tune online, including a couple of televised performances by Wilbert Harrison himself. This one is my personal favorite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE0T-EA1294

> DJ Sir L

Thanks, DJ Sir L, for some great memories. Looking forward to a future visit when I'm "Goin' to Kansas City".

MC
Columbia, Missouri (just 105 miles to the east)