hello:I a new member and Im getting lost and not anywere near being computer ''learned''.Im looking for both modeling and railfan data(like to walk this line)on the ""High Line''' KC&OSCEOLA&SOUTHERN.I live in metro StL and retired in 2006(E-L & Conrail )....can you help direct this to the proper party and if you can which area of the Frisco is the High Line(which Div???)Please e mail me off line:MEC-BML@SBCGLOBAL.NET Thanks JOEL
The "High Line" was the Clinton Subdivision of the Frisco's Eastern Division, a secondary route between KC and Springfield by way of Clinton, Mo. The Kansas City, Osceola & Southern, or "Blair Line", was a predecessor of this subdivision, extending from KC to Osceola. The Frisco bought it out about 1898, and combined it with the Frisco's existing Springfield - Bolivar branchline and new construction between Bolivar and Osceola to create the Frisco's first link to Kansas City. For a few years this was the Frisco's main line to Kansas City, but this ended when the Frisco took over the KC Fort Scott & Memphis, which had a much faster and flatter mainline by way of eastern Kansas. The High Line was relegated to branchline service after the early 1900s. Other postings and writings about the Clinton Subdivision may tell you more details about how long passenger and freight traffic lasted, and when the line was eventually severed and abandoned. The Kansas City, Clinton & Springfield was a subsidiary of the KC Fort Scott & Memphis, built in the mid 1880s. It ran from Olathe, Kansas to Ash Grove, Mo., using the mainline of the KCFS&M to get access to KC and Springfield. It was sometimes called the "Leaky Roof Line" because worn-out, leaky boxcars were assigned to serve its biggest customer, a clay pipe factory in Deepwater, Mo. (The clay pipes didn't care if they got wet in transit.) For much of its length, it closely paralleled the KCO&S/High Line. When the Frisco took over the KCFS&M in 1901, it also took over control of the KCC&S and therefore controlled all three lines between Springfield and KC. For a while it allowed the KCC&S to have some appearance of independence, presumably to keep the state government from harassing the Frisco about having a monopoly. But in the 1920s it merged the KCC&S and began combining some portions of the High Line and the KCC&S. In 1934 it scrapped most of the remaining KCC&S except for a few stubs of industrial track and a few miles where the High Line trains had been diverted over the KCC&S to get access to the Deepwater pipe factory. For more information, including maps, timetables, timelines, newspaper articles, and some discussion of the current state of the abandoned roadbeds of these two lines, check out the "Railroads of Henry County" website run by Mike Good, a librarian at the Henry County public library in Clinton, Mo. http://tacnet.missouri.org/history/railroads/index.html Much of the roadbeds of the High Line and the Leaky Roof can be discerned in old topographical maps and aerial/satellite photographs such as the ones found at www.terraserver-usa.com . If you're interested in walking the right-of-way, I would suggest first checking out the "Frisco High Line Trail" between Springfield and Bolivar, which follows the route of the Clinton Subdivision between those two points. (See http://www.friscohighlinetrail.org ). You could also check out the "Belton Grandview and Kansas City", a tourist operation that runs over a few miles of former Clinton Sub track out of Belton, Mo. (See http://www.beltonrailroad.org/ ). Most of the rest of the High Line and the Leaky Roof has long since reverted to fenced private property, highways, or construction, making it difficult to walk without trespassing.
