Historical research is so rewarding as unkown facts can be discovered. Case in point: hardly anyone ever heard of the Abilene & Ft. Worth--AFW. Reason is the rr was never launched. I am currently authoring a book on the Oklahoma, Kansas & Texas (OKT) that took over Rock Island tracks in 1980.Interviewing former RI & OKT workers and learning their knowledge & stories continues to be a labor of love for me on this. Earlier this yr, I sat down in a lunch meeting w/ a former MKT VP of finance, Karl Ziebarth, who was "the guy" that put together the OKT to get it up & running. No longer needing the papers, Karl gave me three boxes of RI, MKT & OKT documents related to the shutdown and transfer of the trackage to the OKT. Having been a fan of the MKT-OKT for 40 yrs or so, was I ever in for a surprise. When Katy management began lookimg at the RI, from KS to TX in fall 1979, a 'paper" proposal was to acquire Abilene-Ft. Worth track as a stand alone shortline as the Abilene & Ft. Worth (w/rights to Salina on UP). While the idea never was seriously considered and w/hardly any cost savings about, the AFW stayed on Katy paper w/the tracks becoming the MKT controlled OKT on 5-29-80 w/ the first train to KS operated about 10 days later. In retrospect, even if AFW was created, likely it would not have lasted long as a bigger mouth would have gobbled it up. RI fans, consider that the follower to the over 700 miles of involved track could have been the AFW and not the OKT. Sam in Wichita
Hopefully that material finds its way into the CRIP special collection at OU-Norman, Oklahoma or Barriger Library at UMStL Mercantile Library when you are finished with it.
Been very busy helping two surveyors on old MP lines (Eureka MO- MoPac Glencoe Sub and Arma/Franklin KS MoPac Rich Hill Sub and Western Coal & Mining CO trackage in the SE Kansas spiderweb of trackage in Washington and Crawford Counties) - There is not much to be found on either subject as most of the paperwork has just vanished, including the mapping...Once that stuff is gone its gone and no telling how much is sitting in somebody's attic collecting dust and forgotten about - possibly to be thrown out by clueless muggles. At Franklin KS you also had an interurban Joplin-Pittsburg Electric RR braided through the spiderweb and there is very little surviving records for that.
SFbrkmnHistorical research is so rewarding as unkown facts can be discovered. Case in point: hardly anyone ever heard of the Abilene & Ft. Worth--AFW. Reason is the rr was never launched. I am currently authoring a book on the Oklahoma, Kansas & Texas (OKT) that took over Rock Island tracks in 1980.Interviewing former RI & OKT workers and learning their knowledge & stories continues to be a labor of love for me on this. Earlier this yr, I sat down in a lunch meeting w/ a former MKT VP of finance, Karl Ziebarth, who was "the guy" that put together the OKT to get it up & running. No longer needing the papers, Karl gave me three boxes of RI, MKT & OKT documents related to the shutdown and transfer of the trackage to the OKT. Having been a fan of the MKT-OKT for 40 yrs or so, was I ever in for a surprise. When Katy management began lookimg at the RI, from KS to TX in fall 1979, a 'paper" proposal was to acquire Abilene-Ft. Worth track as a stand alone shortline as the Abilene & Ft. Worth (w/rights to Salina on UP). While the idea never was seriously considered and w/hardly any cost savings about, the AFW stayed on Katy paper w/the tracks becoming the MKT controlled OKT on 5-29-80 w/ the first train to KS operated about 10 days later. In retrospect, even if AFW was created, likely it would not have lasted long as a bigger mouth would have gobbled it up. RI fans, consider that the follower to the over 700 miles of involved track could have been the AFW and not the OKT. Sam in Wichita
Somewhat similar experience, a while back I helped research the history of H&TC RR and found out several interesting items.......
Central Expressway in Dallas is not Central at all but was named after the Houston and Texas Central Railway line along which it was built.
Towns along the former H&TC North of Dallas were named after Officers and family members of the railroad as well as close relations. Allen was named after Ebenezer Allen who was a railroad officer. Anna and Melissa, TX I think were his daughters or someones daughters.
Texas was initially settled in part by none other than JP Morgan. He owned steamship lines that steamed down the coast from NYC and around Florida arriving in Galveston, TX...........which coincidentally was the starting city of the H&TC RR.
H&TC had a partnership with MKT at Dennison. MKT would take H&TC passengers North from Dennison to points on the MKT system. H&TC ran within the state of Texas and did not cross the border, primarily from Galveston to Houston to Dallas to the Red River border at Denison. They also had an Austin,TX Branch.
H&TC had a passenger train called "The Dallas Morning News" which was in part subsidized by the paper to haul and deliver it's papers by baggage car North from Dallas.
SFbrkmnHistorical research is so rewarding as unkown facts can be discovered.
Agreed. I was researching for a talk I did on local railroads and discovered that the completion of a line to a terminus on the St Lawrence was done by a "railroad" (Clayton & Theresa) that never owned any rolling stock. They immediately leased the line to another railroad (Utica & Black River).
The recognized authority on the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg, a book by Hungerford, never mentions the C&T in his book. That text is now available free on-line.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Likely the Dickinson Co., KS Historical Society @ Herington much later into the future to keep it local. Their rr collection (RI, OKT, SSW, DRGW & UP) is housed inside a RI baggage car next to the museum. Good friend of mine, who came from a Herington RI family and longtime UP condr, manages the rr collections there.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.