Hillsdale, KS depot. The first photograph is dated 1955. The second photograph is dated 1950. This image included E8A SLSF 2011, Gallant Fox, pulling a seven car passenger train. FM
I would like to know what years the Hillsdale, KS depot was in operation and what year it was razed. I have an 8' wooden HILLSDALE sign from the depot and am trying to figure out what time period this particular sign was on the depot. The letters have a stenciled look to them. Any info anyone has would be great! Thank you.
Connie, I do not have specific answers to your questions, but assuming that the photographs above include the sign to which your refer, we can say that it was open in 1950 and 1955. Here is also a Hillsdale track diagram provided by Karl Brand's father. I think Karl has indicated that these maps are 1960s-era. http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/hillsdale-c36-2.1797/ Best Regards,
About 35 years ago when I first started getting interested in railroads, model railroads and the Frisco, I bought a book at B. Dalton called America's Colorful Railroads. The author was a man named Don Ball who published several really good color photograph books on railroads in general, and a great one on the Pennsylvania Railroad. In that book was a picture of "Gallant Fox" with about a seven car train in front of the Hillsdale, KS depot. It was the first picture I ever saw of a famous horse or "race horse" E8A. I studied that picture a lot. Some time later I was at Spotlight Hobby Shop on Troost Avenue in Kansas City, MO. I asked the old guy behind the counter if he had any Frisco race horse decals. He gave a really strange look, kind of like get out of my store, and said no. This post brought back those memories. Many of you folks have never heard of B. Dalton or heard of Spotlight, which was a Kansas City institution. I am feeling my age. John
Unfortunately Don Ball's caption is incorrect. The train is No 117 southbound and not a northbound No 112. The mistake continued in a Mike Kotowski painting of the Firefly, in which he depicted the Firefly at the same spot. The picture in Chris's link is a black and white copy of the color picture that appears in Don Ball's book. In my opinion, Mike used Don's photograph for the basis of his painting. Regardless the picture and the painting are gems. I lived at 74th and Oak, and Spotlight was a short bike ride away.
Karl, Thanks! I always wondered about that caption in the Don Ball picture. Like you, among my first pictures of modern Frisco trains were the Don Ball books. He died far too young - right after he published the PRR book. I have all of his books, all eight of them. He spent much of his youth living in Lawrence, Kansas, and took many of his pictures there on the curve at the North Lawrence depot on the Union Pacific (UP). That curve today is known as "Don Ball Curve". In 2007, Robert Olmstead wrote a book, Kansas Curve, about the curve with many more pictures in it, including one of GP35 SLSF 718 heading up a train running east to Kansas City on a run-through. We had many B Dalton Book Stores here in St. Louis, mostly in shopping malls. Alas, they have all been devoured by their parent, Barnes and Noble, in favor of larger B&N book stores. I think I bought a couple of my Don Ball books at B Dalton. Ken
The Hillsdale depot was built during 1890. It was 48'-4" x 20'-4". The waiting room, 18' x 19', was on the north side of the structure, the office, 10'-2" x 19'-0", was located in the middle of the depot, and the freight and baggage room, 18'-2" x 19'-0", was located on the south end of the building. It sat on the east side of the tracks. The last passenger train, The Sunnyland, to called on Hillsdale made its last stop on September 18, 1965. Thereafter, the Southland continued to pass through Hillsdale on its daily trip between Kansas City, MO and Birmingham, AL. The Southland did not stop at Hillsdale, and people would have to go to Paola, KS to catch the train. Loss of the mail contract and declining ridership forced the Frisco to discontinue trains No 101 and No 102, The Southland. The last runs of these trains left their respective points of original on December 8, 1967. The Southland was the last passenger train operated by the Frisco. I cannot pin-point the exact date that the depot was razed, but I suspect it was during the early 1970s. I have several Frisco System Telephone Directories from the late 1970s, and Hillsdale is no longer listed. I would love to see a picture of your station sign. Please post a picture.
There was a very nice centerfold color photograph in Classic Trains in its Fall 2008 issue of the Katy Flyer using trackage rights going through Hillsdale, KS. Good view and color of the depot. Tom
