I was up at 6:15 AM and after a continental breakfast, I filled the rental car with petrol and drove out of Parsons on US Highway 400 to US Highway 73, which I took south to Cherryvale.
WAMX SD40 4103, ex. Norfolk Southern 1597, nee Norfolk and Western 1597 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1966.
Santa Fe Cherryvale station built in 1909.
Santa Fe business car 30 built by Pullman in 1918. It was assigned to the Director in February 1928, later unassigned and rebuilt in March 1969 to camera car 30, re-numbered 5009 in 1970, then re-numbered again to 73 in 1973. The conversion to a camera car was done in order to provide film of the different divisions for locomotive simulator car 5008 which had been rebuilt from 31-seat club lounge-news stand-26 seat chair 3179. 5009 was damaged at an unknown date in a switching accident and was subsequently sold or donated to the Kansas City Railroad Museum in Belton, Missouri, and later moved to the Western Railroaders Hall of Fame & Museum in Cherryvale.
Webb Asset Management SD50 5109, ex. Appalachian & Ohio 5109, exx. National Railway Equipment 5092, nee Chicago and North Western 7032 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1985.
Webb Asset Management GP50 5004, ex. Union Pacific 5548, nee Chicago and North Western 5066 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1980.
Webb Asset Management GP38-3 3834, ex. Bangor and Aroostook 361, nee Bangor and Aroostook 81 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1966.
Webb Asset Management SD40 4111, ex. Norfolk Southern 1618, nee Norfolk and Western 1618 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1971.
The line of Webb Asset Management motive power in Cherryvale. I departed and drove back north to US Highway 400. taking it west to my next stop in Fredonia.
The Missouri Pacific station in Fredonia built in 1910. Back on US Highway 400, I proceeded to Augusta.
The former St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad station built in 1917 and houses Augusta's Welcome Center. The front lobby houses offices for Downtown Augusta Inc. and the Augusta Chamber of Commerce, as well as a small museum featuring historic railroad artifacts and a diorama donated by the Augusta Model Railroad Club. The Frisco Depot Welcome Center features two meeting rooms, the San Frisco Room and the St. Louis Room, that are available to rent for parties, showers and family get-togethers.
The Santa Fe Augusta station built in 1917. I returned to US Highway 400 and went west to Wichita, exiting onto Washington Boulevard, which I took north to Douglas Avenue and saw this ahead.
Santa Fe 4-8-4 3768 on the bridge ahead of me, after which I parked the rental car.
The former Rock Island station built in 1887. In 1928, the ticket offices and passenger services were moved to the Union Depot next door. In the intervening years, this depot has served many purposes, incuding a soup kitchen for homeless people downtown. In 1978 this historic depot was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The former Wichita Union Station built in 1914. Through the 1930s, it served as the city's primary arrival and departure point. Railroads including the Frisco, Santa Fe and Rock Island offered passenger service to and from cities including Chicago, Los Angeles and St. Louis. The station closed in 1979 when Amtrak discontinued its Lone Star (Chicago–Houston) line, ending passenger rail access to the city. The station terminal and nearby buildings have since been redeveloped as a commercial office and retail campus. Cox Communications used the station as its local headquarters until 2007.
The Great Plains Transportation Museum 4/24/2010The mission of the Great Plains Transportation Museum is to preserve and convey the unique history of railroading in the Great Plains through acquisition, restoration, research, exhibition and education. The Great Plains Transportation Museum displays a wide assortment of railroad equipment. Our two largest displays are Santa Fe steam locomotive 3768 and Santa Fe FP45 diesel 93. These locomotives are unique in our collection in that they represent the last class of passenger locomotives that were built for the Santa Fe in their respective eras.
Indoor exhibits include railroad prints, signs, lanterns, tools and other artifacts including a mock-up mechanical stoker used for training steam locomotive personnel. We invite you to visit the Great Plains Transportation Museum to learn more about these and many other historical pieces and displays.
The Great Plains Transportation Museum, Inc., incorporated in 1983, was an outgrowth of the former Great Plains Railway Museum, which was closed in 1977 and placed into storage when it lost its home on the second floor of Union Station. At the time, Union Station was to undergo an extensive renovation through an urban renewal project and the Railway Museum was to eventually have a place in the Union Station building again. The new home in the Union Station building never materialized, so a small group of railroad enthusiasts decided that if there were to be a railroad-oriented museum in Wichita, it would be necessary to incorporate a new museum.
In the meantime, the City of Wichita sold the former Union Station building to Multi Media Cable Vision. The sale of Union Station included former Santa Fe locomotive 3768, which the cable company did not need for its business, so they donated it to the Museum. The steam locomotive was a feature attraction the Museum needed before opening its doors to the public. Already on hand from the former Great Plains Railway Museum were a Frisco wooden caboose, a Santa Fe drovers' car and a former Kansas Gas and Electric electric locomotive. The Burlington Northern Railroad had donated a former Frisco switcher locomotive that was sitting in storage on their property.
A volunteer crew erected a fence in the summer of 1985 for enclosing the property and to protect the outdoor displays. Because the Museum would also need some office space, gift shop space and indoor display space, a lease for a small portion of the Player Piano building was also negotiated. Doors were first opened to the public in December 1986. The Museum held a "Grand Opening" the following June and by then a small admission was charged instead of relying only on donations and gift shop sales for income.
After its official opening the GPTM has acquired additional rolling stock over the years -- such as two industrial locomotives, some cabooses, a tank car and a former Santa Fe diesel electric locomotive -- and various artifacts and memorabilia and books. The GPTM also provides special group tours for schools and other organizations and a speakers bureau for civic and community groups. The benefits to members include a monthly newsletter, free admission to the Museum, and a ten percent discount on purchases from the gift shop.
The number of yearly visitors is up, especially since a Douglas Street level entrance was opened beginning in November 1999. In addition to visitors from the Wichita and the nearby surrounding area, there have been visitors from other parts of Kansas, numerous other states and a variety of foreign countries. Out-of-state visitors are typical on virtually a weekly frequency and foreign country visitors are typical at least monthly. Over the years the GPTM has established a presence in the City of Wichita and has become an asset to the community.
One enters the museum through this door.
One then visits with this nice gentleman to pay the admission fee and receive a handout.
The lower level has a gift shop. I went up the stairs and out onto the platform level.
The Rock Island station.
Wichita Union Station.
Santa Fe 4-8-4 3768 built by Baldwin in 1938. The 3765s were initially assigned to hauling crack passenger services, such as the Chief and Fast Mail Express between La Junta, Colorado and Los Angeles, California and frequently ran the entire 1,234 mile trip without an engine change. After dieselisation progressed on the Santa Fe, the 3765s were relegated to freight services, their last major assignment working on the Eastern Division between Argentine, Kansas and Waynoka, Oklahoma. When 3768 made its last trip on 4th August 1953, it had racked up 1,779,162 miles in its 25 years service.
3768 is the only survivor of its class. It was donated to the City of Wichita in 1958 and went on display at Friends' University. In 1977, it was relocated to a site near Wichita Union Station and, in 1985, it joined the Great Plains Transportation Museum collection.
Santa Fe FP45 93, ex. Santa Fe 5993 May 1990, exx. Santa Fe 106 in January 1990, exxx. Santa Fe 5993, exxxx. Santa Fe 5943 1970, nee Santa Fe 103, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1967. 5943 lost its steam generator and was repainted into the blue and yellow pinstripe scheme in late 1971 or early 1972. It was one of seven FP45's to receive this scheme before the blue and yellow warbonnet was introduced in June 1972. In April 1980, 5943 was rebuilt in the Santa Fe shops at San Bernardino. The gyralight between the number boards was removed and the fixed headlight was relocated from the nose door to the former gyralight location. The 5943 and 5945 were the only FP45's whose fixed headlights were relocated in this fashion.
In early 1982, the railroad decided to renumber the rebuilt FP45's into the 5990-series, and the 5943 became the 5993. In 1986, the locomotive was painted into the short-lived SPSF red and yellow scheme. The scheme was especially short-lived on 5993; the unit was back in blue and yellow within two years. It was re-numbered 93 in August 1990 and was donated to the museum in 1999.
Central Kansas Railway caboose 1959, nee Santa Fe 999765 built by International Car in 1981.
Missouri Pacific caboose 13495, nee Chicago and Eastern Illinois 8 built by the railroad in 1950.
Union Pacific caboose 24538, nee Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific 17120 built by International Car in 1967. It was retired in 1985 and donated to Dickinson County Historical Society in Abilene, Kansas in 1986 then was acquired by the Great Plains Transportation Museum.
Air Products tank car of unknown number built by American Car and Foundry in 1957.
Burlington Northern NW-2 421. nee St. Louis-San Francisco 261 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1949.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy caboose 13519 built by the railroad in 1930.
Railway Post Office truck.
View of the museum.
Great Plains Transportation Museum interurban car 12, ex. Arkansas Valley Railway 12 1939-1942, nee Arkansas Valley Interurban 12 1917-1939 built by American Car Company in 1917 as a combine. It was rebuilt to freight motor in 1938 and rebuilt to freight trailer in 1940.
Kansas Gas & Electric flat motor 603 built by St. Louis Car Company and acquired by KG&E in 1913. It was acquired by the museum in 1969.
Wheel sets.
Trucks.
Track equipment.
Santa Fe drover's car D938 built by the railway in 1931. It was rebuilt in 1942 as a coach-baggage-caboose.
Union Pacific Postal Storage Car 904270, ex. Union Pacific 5745, nee Union Pacific 24470 built by American Car and Foundry in 1957.
Kansas Gas and Electric 35 ton ML8 switcher, ex. Naval Air Station Kansas, nee United States Army 7619, built by Plymouth in 1943. The company used this locomotive at the Ripley Steam Electric Plant until it was closed.
Mobil (East St Louis, Illinois) GM3 30 ton switcher, ex. Socony Vacuum Company, exx. Texas Company in Claymont, Delaware, exxx. Utah Construction/Morrison-Knudsen, exxxx. R.C. Stanhope, nee New York City Interurban Transit Subway built by Whitcomb in 1930 and acquired by the museum in 2009.
St. Louis-San Francisco wooden caboose 876 built in 1904.
Santa Fe baggage car 190006 built by Pullman in 1914 and used by the museum as a shop car.
Views of Wichita Union Station.
Union Pacific 6903 South passed outside the museum.
View of Wichita Union Station from the cab of Santa Fe 3768.
A dad helps his little ones up the steps of Santa Fe 93. Now let us look inside at the second floor displays.
This museum has a very nice collection of railroad memorabelia. I thanked the host for the visit and returned to my rental car.
I departed Wichita on Kansas Highway 15 south which followed a BNSF mainline out of town.
BNSF 7252 North at Connell, Kansas. It then dawned on me that back in my drinking days, I rode over this line on a Southwest Chief detour due to a flash flood.
The former Santa Fe Mulvane station built in 1910, a one-story brick depot with a gabled roof. At the south end is an enclosed freight area with a flat roof. At the center of the east and west elevations is a raised parapet. The building has heavy bracketed eaves, painted white. The windows are segmented double hung, with segmented fixed pane windows in the upper gables.
The town of Mulvane was established in 1879 at the junction of five Santa Fe lines. The first depot consisted of two box cars end-to-end. They served as the depot until this building was constructed in 1910. The depot was operational until the 1970's. The facility was part of the Eastern Line, Middle Division, Third District, at Mile post 227.9 of the railroad line. Today, it is home to the Mulvane Historical Museum.
Santa Fe caboose 999652, nee Santa Fe 2276 built by the railroad in 1949. I made my way to Udall.
Santa Fe caboose 999703 built by International Car in 1978 on display in Udall, Kansas. From here I proceeded to Winfield.
Webb Asset Management SD40-2 4129, ex. General American Marks Company 7366, nee Missouri Pacific 3185 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1975, at Winfield, Kansas.
BNSF 4504 East with Canadian National 2571 in its consist, after which I found our excursion train.
