Railroaders' Nostalgia > I didn't wanna play softball, anyhow

What we have here is an unusual view of a big 6-axle Santa Fe SD 45-2 in semi-unfamiliar territory. It would normally be entering town westbound via the Eastern Division 2nd District “Ottawa Cutoff”, or eastbound off of the Middle Division 1st District via Merrick. Furthermore it’s passing by the Sertoma ball field complex tucked into the east side of Emporia just east of Whittier St, just above 6th Avenue and immediately west-northwest of the Eastern Division 1st District passenger main. That SD 45-2 is probably pointing a unit grainer coming down to the main line from NE Kansas. I don’t recall any other time shooting a train from any of the ball fields here. So for me this is a rare sight all the way around on this line.

I believe what we also have here is an entire team of softball-playing railroaders rapidly vacating the scene, racing downtown to our favorite watering hole. Back in ‘em days our ruff n’ ready team of ballplayers went by the team moniker Hi-Rails. But don’t confuse that with any “Hi” regard for the standings. I might just as well have said we were railroading softball players. But as I just mentioned we never put a whole lot of stress on our win-loss statistics. No sir, the main team doctrine for us Hi Rails was to never miss an after-game chance to tip back on a few cold ones!

My Toto image below is showcasing an unusual situation. That scraggly-looking rainbow is part of the after-effects of a sudden rip snortin, hootenang, double-barrel, deeeeep-dish dilly* of a rain squall. The kind Kansas is famous for! In this shot, my team is conspicuous only because of its total absence. The hard and heavy rain squall lasted only 5 or 6 minutes. But I’ll betcha half the team was already down at CJ’s, diving into their first mugs of cold & frosty ‘whatever’ before the last raindrop fell. I’d say it’s a dern good thing the umpire went ahead and called the game. My conspicuously absent softball team has vacated the premises in favor of an early start to another post-game beer-drinkin’ session. The fact that there was NO game didn’t matter in the least! I would also have been down there with the guys, but I heard a RR horn and had to stick around for a quick K-64 interlude. “Hey guys, have them pour me a big mug o’ Coors Light. I’ll be down there in a coupla shakes…”

1. AT&SF 5678, coming down from Topeka is approaching NR Jct on the east side of Emporia, KS on May 20, 1982.

Who got that first round?
Lance Garrels
santafe199

*I swiped this line from the late Dev Nelson, who was a beloved radio & TV sports personality for Kansas Sate University. His memorable line is more poignantly used in this thread:
( https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3939567,3939567#msg-3939567 ).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/19 08:27 by santafe199.

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Hey! I used to live across the street from that ballfield. The last time we drove by there, a few years ago, they sure have improved that ball park. 

And I remember Hi-Rails. We all proudly wore our team shirts to work too. My wife finally made me throw out the shirt about 15 years ago.
Dave in Missoula

Up periscope?

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