Earlier in the year, Dak Dillon announced two Colorado photo charters, one on the Durango and Silverston and two days later, at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. We planned a route to include stations, with the help of the Railroad Station Historical Society database, which Elizabeth is involved in updating. The two of us departed on May 15th and she drove us to Walton, Kansas.
BNSF 5349 East with a windmill train in Walton.
A windmill blade on a long flat car.
Canadian Pacific SD70ACU 7044 built by General Electric in 1998. We left here and across the highway, found the depot.
Santa Fe Walton station built in 1880 and moved to this location from Lehigh, 24.3 miles away, in September 2017. We continued on to Sedgwick.
Santa Fe Sedgwick station built in 1931. Our next stop was Kingman.
Santa Fe Kingman station built in 1910. It is located at 201 East Sherman Street, which parallels the railroad track and features a gabled roof with a operators' bay and an enclosed freight room and a waiting room. At the top of the freight room are the Santa Fe emblems which are commonly associated with a county seat depot. The depot was not only the center of everyday activities essential to the functioning of the town and surrounding agricultural community, but it was also the location of many special activities throughout the years. Special trains brought people from Pratt and Wichita during the Kingman's annual Cattlemen's Picnic. The high school also used the trains to go to sporting events.
In March 1999, a private citizen purchased the Santa Fe Depot from the Central Kansas Railway and later deeded it to The Santa Fe Depot Foundation, a non-profit organization. Watco Co. of Pittsburg, Kansas, which operates the railroad as the Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad, purchased the depot itself. The one-story Mission Revival-style depot building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. Today, the depot houses the Cannonball Welcome Center for tourist information and a railroad museum. Small meetings, parties, reunions and other events are sometimes held in and around the building.
We went in search of the Missouri Pacific station and found this mural nearby.
Missouri Pacific Kingman station built in 1887
A sculpture of a cowboy riding a horse. Elizabeth then drove us to Dodge City and we had dinner in the Santa Fe freight house where the food was excellent but the service was below our standards. We checked into the Quality Inn and I watched televison during the evening.
5/16/2024 We arose and after doing our Internet duties, we went to IHOP for breakfast where I enjoyed a waffle and bacon, after which we stopped at Walmart so Elizabeth could buy some film, then I drove us southwest and soon we came upon a train.
The Cimarron Valley Railroad was formed May 29, 1996 in Utah. In that year it purchased from BNSF Railway trackage built in 1912, being the former Cimmaron Valley and Manter Subdivisions of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway tracks in Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas. One line runs from Dodge City, Kansas to Boise City, Oklahoma; the other from Satanta, Kansas to Springfield, Colorado. The CVR runs a total of 254 miles of track, primarily hauling agricultural commodities such as wheat, corn and milo, along with sand, cement, poles, pipe and fertilizers. CVR was one of several shortline railroads operated by The Western Group of Ogden, Utah. On November 1, 2020, the CVR was purchased by Jaguar Transport Holdings.
Cimarron Valley Railroad 4053 East near Dodge City.
Cimarron Valley C40-8 4053, ex. General Electric Transportation Systems 9050, nee CSX 7616, built by General Electric in 1990.
Cimarron Valley C40-8 7522, ex. General Electric Transportation Systems 7522, nee CSX 7522, built by General Electric in 1989. Two very happy railfans left but we were not done with this railroad.
A Cimarron Valley ballast train was about five miles west so we made another stop.
Cimarron Valley B40-8 5952, ex. General Electric Transportation Systems 5962, exx. CSX 5962, nee Conrail 5063, built by General Elecctric in 1988. I drove us further west.
Cimarron Valley B40-8 5969, ex. General Electric Transportation Systems 5969, exx. CSX 5969, exxx. Norfolk Southern 4807, nee Conrail 5073, built by General Electric in 1988.
The other end of the ballast train. We then proceeded to Johnson City.
Santa Fe Johnson City station built in 1923 and now houses the Stanton County Historical Society museum.
Santa Fe caboose 999056, nee Santa Fe 1919, built by American Car and Foundry in 1930.
The Manter signpost, which is 11 miles from Johnson City.
Johnson City Depot sign.
Santa Fe Trail Sign.
Santa Fe section building on the property. We left Johnson City and headed west into Colorado, where another stop was in order.
In Walsh was Cimarron Valley B40-8 5951, ex. General Electric Transportation Systems, exx. 5951, exxx. CSX 5951, nee Conrail 5061, built by General Electric in 1988. Elizabeth drove us on to Springfield.
This was the Santa Fe station from Pritchett, 16.1 miles from Springfield. We continued west, ended up in Pritchett and the GPS directions said to turn right onto Railroad Street, then we made our way to Trinidad, north to Walsenburg, where west of there, we spotted a westbound train so made a decision to go to take a slight detour to La Veta for pictures.
Denver and Rio Grande Western La Veta station built in 1876.
Colorado Pacific Rio Grande RailroadThe offers freight service to its customers five days a week, headquartered at the historic freight office in Alamosa built in 1909. The 2022 traffic level was about 7000 cars. Current operating speed for the line is 10 mph with allowable car weights of up to 263,000 pounds. The Soloviev Group plans to upgrade its speed capacity to 25 mph and weight clearance to more modern 286,000 pound cars. The line has siding capacity for long term storage of 500 cars. The newest industrial facility on the line, a bulk fertilizer unloading plant pictured here, was opened by the Monte Vista Co-Op in 2022.
After a little wait, the Colorado Pacific Rio Grande train arrived and for the first few pictures, I used the telephoto lens.
Colorado Pacific Rio Grande SD70MAC 512, ex. Diesel Motive Power 512, exx. BNSF 9568, nee Burlington Nrothern 9568, built by Electro Motive Division in 1995.
Colorado Pacific Rio Grande SD70MAC 303, ex. Diesel Motive Power 303, exx. BNSF 9546, nee Burlington Northern 9546, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1994.
Elizabeth then drove us over La Veta Pass and into the San Luis Valley, where we had dinner at Arby's before checking into the Quality Inn in Alamosa for the night.
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