The May 4th, 1933 edition of the Salem Post states that receivers with the Frisco filed a petition to abandon the Sligo and Winkler (Decamp) branches. The depot agent at Salem, W. M. Bernard, reported that during the previous year, the Sligo branch only saw about one train per month, while the Winkler branch had even less traffic than that, with only three or four trains the entire year, and each train on either route usually consisting of a single car. Inbound shipments were mostly livestock feed with what few outbound shipments there were consisting of timber. The article goes on to state the lines had remained profitable for a while even after the iron industry fizzled out, but timber, the main source of revenue at the time, had become depleted. The March 15th, 1934 edition states that Attorney W. I. Harrison succeeded in getting a new hearing for those served by the Sligo Branch, which included Mrs. Marshall and her son John of Sligo, and representatives of Potosi Tie and Timber, Beers and Wright, and Lodgrbrinck Lumber Company. Those parties claimed that there was enough regrowth of local timber to maintain outbound shipments. The Winkler Branch had no such support, and the same article states that crews had been busy for the past two weeks in its removal. A hearing in July 1933, saw the Missouri Public Service Commission approve the abandonment of both branches. Both were still listed on the 1934 Timetable with "Service Rendered by Extras." Those interested in keeping the Sligo Branch open would lose their battle, and it would be abandoned and removed that same year. Both articles are from the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project (shsmo.newspapers.com). I'm sure that I've written it somewhere else on this site, but my Grandpa was part of the crew that removed both branches. He told an amusing story of riding to work every day in a Model T convertible when they were taking up the Winkler Branch. One last train was used to load rails and material onto cars as they took up the track behind them. They reached a certain point where the steam locomotive, no doubt a tea kettle by comparison, couldn't pull a steep grade. The engineer would back the train up as far as he could, then get a run at the hill. This process was repeated several times until they finally made it over. The track crew rode in a gondola and the men had to hold onto their hats as the train went flying over the rickety track trying to gain momentum. Pat Moreland Wesco, Missouri
