I love these what if questions so here's an interesting one If you could go back in time to any place on the system for 24 hours where and when would it be? Be specific as possible. You can only walk so you have to stay close You only get one chance to answer so think about it. This is your one chance. You can take either a camera or video recorder but not both. If you chose the camera you can only take 100 photographs. If you take the video camera you can only shoot for a total of 60 minutes.
Newburg, Mo depot - Spring, 1945. I'll take the camera option for my 100 shots. Then, I'll write a classic railroad article with 100 neat illustrations in it! Ken
I'm going to the Tulsa Interlocker (Urban) in May of 1970. I'll get to see some SD45's maybe a F unit or two. Maybe catch a few black and yellows. See the Santa Fe Tulsan come and go and watch the MoPac interchange. I'm taking my DVD recorder!
No question. 1942, Springfield, Mo. I would be in the cab of the loco, next to my Granduncle Robert J. McGilvry, as he " drove" the Kansas City- Florida Special. With camera in hand. Dan
Atmore, AL........so I could give my old agent buddy, Carl Hayden, a big hug and a thank you for all the time he tolerated me hanging out in his "depot" while I was a pesky teenager. I was gone from there 20 years before I ever got around to calling him to say "hi". Glad I did. He died a couple of years ago, before I ever got to see him again in person. I'd take my video recorder to catch the day's train to Pensacola doing the flyover across the L&N. Maybe I'd get lucky and score a black GP7.
This is a tuff one beins I'm all the way down here in Texas, If I were closer to home, I would go to Tulsa and catch the meteor behind the 4500 and ride it to St. Louis. I would take the camera and take pictures of every car, and several good detail shots of the locomotive when we stopped. If I had to stay close to home I would go downtown San Antonio and catch the Texas Special . I would take the video camera and shoot footage of the locomotives swapping ends and heading back North.
WOW! Would have to be Rockview, MO early 1950's. Not only ANYTHING the Frisco had but Daylight scheme Cotton Belt PA's, Black Widow scheme freight locos, C&EI trains from Thebes terminating in Chaffee, Missouri-Illinois alcos in Eagle scheme down from Ste.Genevieve on the Frisco, tons of MoPac stuff and throw in a little steam action here and there. It all went through Rockview.
Afton, OK, summer 1975, 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM, at the depot. Once again get a chance to chat with Eldon Rose, the first trick station agent; shoot the breeze with the boys from Ft. Scott as they come in on trains 137 and 139; get some awesome night shots of the QLA roaring thru town at 4:30 AM; capture pics of Frisco, SCL, and Santa Fe power, plus the all-too-frequent detouring KCS freights; and getting a great burger and fries at the Rocket Drive-In. Oh yes, and to see my Mom & Dad alive & well once more..............
Back to an era where there aren't many photos. Fort Smith, Arkansas 1910. Frisco, Iron Mountain, Midland Valley, KCS, Fort Smith & Western and maybe a CRI&P passenger train, all within a few blocks of each other downtown. Get to see things that no one seems to have photos of now. I guess I'd have to keep my digital camera hidden.
With out a doubt, Iantha MO 1950,51, or 52. I would take a vid camera and tape the freights and passenger trains. Also tape the grain and passenger operations there. I would also talk to my grandpa, but he would be at the age of some where between 6-10.
For me, it would be South Clinton, Mo, operating headquarters of the KCC&S, on a Tuesday or Thursday in the spring or fall of 1904. Having a photocopy of a 1904 ETT helps greatly in planning such a trip.... After seeing triweekly overnight through freight no. 63 arrive from KC via Olathe in the wee hours of the morning, I'd look around the yard a bit in the early morning light while waiting for a chance to chat with the station agent, dispatcher, crews, etc. Perhaps I could masquerade as a reporter from The Railway Magazine or Railroad Man's Magazine, interested in writing a favorable story about the KCC&S. I wouldn't need a car, or even a horse, to catch a ride with local freight no. 65 when it left Clinton about 8 am and trundled seven miles south across the Grand River to Deepwater to switch the mine spurs and the Dickey Clay factory. (The 1904 ETT specifies that wayfreights 61, 62, 65 and 66 carried passengers. Just remember to bring enough 1904 money!) I'd poke around a bit at Deepwater and watch the local do its switching and weighing of cars until 10:40 am, when northbound passenger train no. 34 from Springfield was scheduled to arrive. Buying a ticket at the Deepwater depot, I'd ride back to Clinton in the men's smoker, enjoying the swaying and creaking of the wooden coach and opening a window if the whiff of someone's "seegar" got a little too strong. Onward through Clinton, and west for 19 miles or so to Creighton, hoping that everything's running on the advertised so I can see how they handled the scheduled three-way meet at Creighton, with northbound no. 34 overtaking Clinton-KC wayfreight no. 62 while meeting southbound KC-Clinton wayfreight no. 61. Now it gets a bit dicey. Catching a ride back to Clinton on no. 61 might require some quick work after arriving at Creighton, even if everyone's running on time! If I managed to do so, I'd enjoy watching the local crew switch cars at Urich and Hartwell on the way back to Clinton. If no. 61 left town before I managed to get aboard, I'd have a few hours to kill in Creighton before catching southbound passenger no. 33 at 3:59 pm or thereabouts. Either way, back at Clinton it's time for dinner at the Shull Hotel or the Gulf Hotel, both within a stone's throw of the KCC&S and MK&T depots (and long vanished from the modern world). Perhaps a Katy train or two will storm through town in the meanwhile. Then off to the south end of the yard in time for Springfield-Clinton wayfreight no. 66's scheduled arrival at 6:45 pm. No. 64, a triweekly through freight to Kansas City, was scheduled to depart shortly afterward at 7:30 pm. Was this so that it could give expedited handling to KC-bound livestock coming north on no. 66? At last I would know for certain! Some time after watching no. 64 leave for KC, I would reluctantly head for my rendezvous with Doctor Who and the TARDIS, or whoever was responsible for such a wonderful one-day vacation. A great many mysteries about the KCC&S's operations could be resolved. Was there really enough local traffic to run wayfreights in multiple sections, as a line in the timetable vaguely hints? Did the KCC&S venture into the MK&T yards at Clinton? What did the KCC&S's enginehouse and car shop, and the nearby Kracke mill and elevator, look like? I could at last get a good look at the line's notoriously dilapidated freight cars, which, like most of its structures, seem to have successfully eluded all photographers. Choosing to take a still camera or a video camera would be an agonizing choice. I'd dearly love to capture the movement and the sounds of the KCC&S's 1884-vintage 4-4-0s going about their duties, but I doubt that 60 minutes would capture anywhere near as much footage and documentation as I'd want. It might also blow my cover as an undercover chrononaut. Motion picture cameras had been invented by that time, but were uncommon and bulky. Could I pass off a sophisticated modern videocamera as a "newfangled Edison invention"? Or would a camera with 100 exposures would be better for permanently documenting scenes, buildings and equipment that ceased to exist before I was born? Decisions, decisions....
