We just returned from a week-long stay in Olathe taking care of our two granddaughters (whew!) while Kurt and Jennifer participated in her sister's wedding in Mexico. Is there a decent map anywhere showing the railroad lines in the KC area? I know VERY little about the orientation of the RR's over there. I assume the dual track line running on the right side of I-35 as you run southwest leaving the KC Hospital Hill area is the former Frisco line running down through Olathe to Ft Scott? BTW, from the number of BNSF trains we heard and saw running on the former ATSF line through Olathe, the rail business is getting better, as opposed to what we experienced over the last several visits in 2011 when things seemed very quiet. We waited at the 119th Street crossing several times for BNSF trains, and I noticed several were general merchandise trains as opposed to unit trains of coal, soda ash, grain, etc. "GM" trains are a good economic indicator ..... we used to monitor them in Idaho on the UP "OSL". Ken
Google Earth is probably your best bet. Make sure you have rail lines selected for view. Kansas and Missouri DOT have some maps on their sites. I've posted them here. Between these maps and Google Earth you can get a pretty good feel for where the lines are and who they belong to.
Ken...that is the FRISCO main. My "hang out" back in the good ol' days. One early Saturday driving down to Olathe from Lenexa in my mom's 61 Corvair I was overtaken on I-35 by Katy #5, the Katy Flyer. I was shoving the pedal to the floor and he took off like a scorched cat leaving me in the dust. Better than 75! Finally the track peeled off, following Kansas City Road, and the Flyer vanished into the early morning mist and I caught the razz from the other two guys in the car with me. Rancho Bob
Somewhere on this forum is my KCT 1943 map which shows all of the railroads in KC. Frisco inbound yard was at 19th street, and the outbound yard was Rosedale next to MKT Glendale yard. The two track main going to Ft. Scott run South out of Rosedale. Over at KCT Tower 8 Sheffield, the MP and Firsco Joint line through swope Park went south, that was the old high line going to Springfield, MO by way of Clinton, MO.
There was a very comprehensive map in the Train Watchers Guide to Kansas City. I loaned mine to a friend who had it copied at a local repro shop. Couldn't get a scan in color at our office, but I can probably get a b/w one. Original is like 26/30 or some such, not a regular arch/eng sheet size.
Richard, you started a thread that said you had scanned the map, but it was never posted. If it is okay with you, I will post it to the original thread and link to it here.
Here's the link to the original thread with the 1943 KCT map: http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread...inal-Railway-industrial-Map&p=44422#post44422
Ken, Do you know the one thing that is better than having a map of the railroads in the Kansas City area? It is having a guided tour of the area. Plan an extra day or two next time you are in town, let us know and we can give you the grand tour. We will even work in a trip to Rosedale Bar-B-Que. You will not be dissappointed. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark