Favorite Memories of the Santa Fe

[atsf]

Just before my 10th Birthday, we had moved to LaPlata, Missouri from the NW corner of Missouri.  It was the first time I had been near the mainline of a major railroad.  The first night I kept hearing trains, but only a couple went by the house which was next to the Wabash.  The next day we went for a drive to get acquainted with the community and came upon the Santa Fe.  I always wanted to go watch the trains whenever I could.  Eventually I got a bike and on Saturday's I would ride down to the station and watch the trains.  I would go inside to check the schedule for the passenger trains, and on one occasion I started talking to the agent on duty (Eula Lindberg) and she invited me behind the counter, showed me the interlocking levers and would let me listen to the dispatchers.  This became a every Saturday deal, and lasted until we moved from LaPlata in August, 1952. I recently saw the ad in Trains for the Depot Inn and Suites in LaPlata, and it brought back many fond memories of my time near the Santa Fe.