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Southern Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad 4/24/2010

I found the excursion train and parked my car, only later having to move it to a street.

SKOL SD40-2 4123, ex. National Railway Equipment 6303, exx. EMD Leasing 6303, exxx. SOO Line 6303, exxxx. Milwaukee Road 19, nee Milwaukee Road 180 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1973, would be on the east end of our train.

South East Kansas Railroad RDC-9 9201 "Kaleigh Ann", ex. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 6904, nee Boston and Maine 6904, built by Budd Company in 1956.

South East Kansas Railroad RDC-9 9202 "Afton Leigh", ex. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 6913, nee Boston and Maine 6913, built by Budd Company in 1956.

South East Kansas Railroad RDC-9 9203 "Fallyne Marie", ex. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 6923, nee Boston and Maine 6923, built by Budd Company in 1956. All three were purchased in 1992 and named for the railroad owner's granddaughters.

SKOL SD40-2 4135 would be on the west end of our train. I called Let's Talk Trains then found Randy Jackson and his loving wife, Marie.

A mural across the street from the tracks.

Gambino's Pizza is located in the former Winfield Main Street Santa Fe station built in 1910.

The Southern Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad operates over 511 miles of former Santa Fe Railroad and Missouri Pacific Railroad tracks. These lines include: Cherryvale to Oxford, Cherryvale to Sherwin to Liberal, Missouri, Cherryvale to Coffeyville, Sherwin to Columbus, Kansas, Owasso to Catoosa, Oklahoma and Tulsa, Oklahoma to Oxford, Kansas. The railroad traffic base includes grain, grain products, cement, chemicals, steel and plastic. In July 2000, WATCO merged two short lines, Southeast Kansas Railroad Company and South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad Company, with the SKOL being the surviving shortline. The SEKR started service in 1987 with the line purchased from the Missouri Pacific from Coffeyville to Nashua Jct. This line was built in the 1880's, the only active former SEKR Sherwin to Liberal, Missouri, with all other former Missouri Pacific lines abandoned.

In 1990, the SKOL was formed when it purchased 287 miles of rail lines from the Santa Fe. The SKOL current lines consist of: The Humboldt Line built by the Southern Kansas Railway in the late 1870's; the SKRY leased to the Santa Fe before the turn of the century; The Tulsa Line, completed in 1905; The Oxford Line, completed in the 1880's; and the Tulsa Port Authority Branch, completed in 1968. The Santa Fe Railroad sold the line to the SKOL on December 28, 1990.

Our train reversed to the loading area.

After it had cleared the switch, it pulled forward where everyone boarded. After the trip rules were reviewed and our train received its orders, we departed.

We departed Winfield heading out of town past homes along our route.

Union Cemetery.

An interesting tree.

Out into the open landscape with trees and fields.

Looking down an open road, Route 18.

You point the camera at a stream and you get this image.

The difference between planted and unplanted fields.

Always keeping one eye on the sky.

Cattle pens.

Rolled hay.

The train began its trip through the Flint Hills.

I have always liked how trees adapt to their surroundings.

We crossed this stream before we reached New Salem.

Train chasers Kansas style.

Unique views along our route.

Crossing another stream.

A little pond along our route before we reached Burden.

Views along our route before Cambridge.

I enjoyed not only the countryside but also the clouds.

The clouds were building on a beautiful spring afternoon.

Views at Cambridge.

Climbing the 1.4 percent grade to Grand Summit.

We started our trip down from Grand Summit.

Rock structure in the Flint Hills.

Another small pond along our route.

The Flint Hills have their own beauty.

The Santa Fe built arch bridges across many of these streams.

Due to many slow orders east of Grenola, the eastbound trip ended here, instead of Moline, and we stopped across the tracks from this building with a nice mural. Here our engineer switched ends and most of the passengers switched sides of the RDC for a different view coming back west.

Storefront in Grenola.

The former Santa Fe sign from Grenola as we started back to Winfield.

The flying saucer water tower here must have had drunks late at night seeing it and calling the police over the years.

Rocks and clouds in the Flint Hills.

Oil wells in the Flint Hills.

Cattle grazing along our route.

Grain elevator at Cambridge.

The Cambridge Cemetery.

Another stream.

A field with a line of rolled hay.

The sky was building as we returned to Winflield and after detraining, I walked to the front of the train.

SKOL SD40-2 4135 had powered our return to Winfield. It had been a wonderful trip aboard this passenger train run by the Southern Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad.

Once in my rental car, I drove south down US Highway 77 to Arkansas City, first stopping at KFC for a chicken breast filet then found the reason for coming here.

The former Santa Fe Arkansas City station built in 1952.

With a major storm super cell to the north, I was glad to be going east on US Highway 166. At one point, I called home and had my mother check the Weather Channel to see if there was any severe weather in my neck of the woods. With the Mississippi tornado at Yazoo City, they were not concerned about anywhere else, but she did see Kansas and there was nothing. That big storm to the north fizzled out and other than an occasional sprinkle, I had a mostly dry drive back to Parsons.

Life is a highway!

I pulled off the highway for this picture of a rainbow that looked neat! My last stop of the day was in Coffeyville.

Union Pacific 4-8-4 844 and train at Coffeyville, Kansas.

The beautiful 844.

Two more views of this wonderful steam engine. From Coffeyville, I drove back north on US Highway 169 then east to Parsons on US Highway 400, returning to the Best Western for the night. Tomorrow was the chase of Union Pacific 844 before I return to La Plata.