Vacation Trips Yield Less Live Rail-Fanning Than Usual

On my trips in July from Friday 6/30-Sunday 7/2/17, as well as Wednesday 7/12-Friday 7/15/17, live trains just weren’t happening for me. This was despite the fact that I made my usual solo trip to the Losh/Worley Family Reunion (that I have not missed since I first attended in July, 2010), and went track-side in Willow Springs, Cabool, Fordland, Seymour , North Diggins and Mountain Grove, Missouri (as I stayed in Mountain Grove for my 2nd year in a row), and Springfield, I settled for just pics as in some locations my wait left nothing to show for it, and in others, the BNSF trains I found idling on the tracks never moved, and my time or patience ran out. I did catch one that was moving south through Seymour, and initially paced it, getting some video, but there were too many obstructions for me to feel it was even worth keeping or sharing the video.

I did, however try to follow the example of the site I covered earlier here on Legacies On The Rails, The Trackside Photographer, and at least took pics of the railroad landscape. Signal towers, signal boxes, tracks, crossing gates, etc, understanding that just like some of the locomotives, rail cars, etc that I am normally so busy catching in pics and video, these features may not always be around, therefor preserving a bit of history by getting those shots.

I then started vacation on Saturday, July 8th but never went anywhere until Wednesday, July 12th, as my wife, my daughter and I had to get some much needed painting done on our house. But on 7/12, my wife Denise and I headed to the Council Bluffs, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska area. But, when I am with her, I normally spend little time if any sitting track-side unless I am approaching a crossing as we go from one place to another and a train just happens to be coming, or already on the tracks. Then I may get video, or a few pics. But on this trip, I was always too late at the crossings to catch approaching trains and settled for freight car or covered hopper pics, but no live locomotives.

On July 12th, we ate and Dan & Jami’s Railway Bar & Grill in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The food and service were good and though it was right next to the tracks, despite my mad dashes out the door to try to catch trains we heard coming, I always settled for various freight car pics. We later visited the Grenville M Dodge House (one of the architects of the Union Pacific Railroad) also located in Council Bluffs. We also stood at the Lincoln Monument, the site where President Abraham Lincoln stood and declared (referring to the aforementioned Union Pacific) “This is where I will build my railroad!”.

On July 13th, we visited the Union Pacific Museum in Council Bluffs, and the Durham Museum that located inside the Omaha, Nebraska Union Station. I also got my pic with the Golden Spike Monument in Council Bluffs, the site where the Union Pacific Railroad began building westward, to eventually meet the Central Pacific Railroad, completing the Transcontinental Railroad in Promontory, Utah on May 10th,1869.

Dinner that evening was at the Old Market Spaghetti Works in Omaha, after we visited Hollywood Candy & Antiques, and a few other antique shops.

On July 14th, in Omaha, we found a pedestrian bridge that goes over railroad tracks at Lewis and Clark Landing and then discovered that the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge (aka the “Bob Bridge“) also had the same tracks running underneath it. While we were on the “Bob Bridge“, Denise took a video of me clowning around, paying tribute to the character of “Achoo” played by Dave Chappelle from the 1993 movie Robin Hood: Men In Tights as halfway across the bridge, you can stand with one foot in Iowa, and the other in Nebraska. Unfortunately, despite waiting a bit on the bridge at Lewis & Clark Landing, I again failed to have any trains come my way and settled for pics of some some covered hoppers parked on a nearby siding.

We also took a riverboat ride on the River City Star, also located in Council Bluffs, as this is another of our favorite pursuits while we are on our various trips. We have also taken boat rides in our hometown of Kansas City, as well as in St Louis, Missouri, Hannibal, Missouri, Branson, Missouri and in one city in Texas.

We also took in the Brass Armadillo Antique Mall in Omaha. We also frequent the one in Odessa, Missouri.

The only real quality pics I ended up with on this trip came when we visited the Railswest Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs also on 7/14.

Dinner that evening was at Romeo’s Mexican Food & Pizza in Bellevue, Nebraska as we were staying the night at the Surestay Plus in Bellevue that I mentioned in my earlier blog on Presidential Trains that both my wife and daughter stayed at earlier in the year. We were in the Andrew Jackson Room. It was a really clean, impressive facility.

However, doing rail-fanning in Council Bluffs and Omaha, and Bellevue put me up to having done rail-fanning in 70 cities over 10 states since March, 2008. 21 cities over 4 states in the 2nd quarter of 2017 May through August thus far.

I did try to do some brief track-side time the morning of Saturday 7/15/17 before we headed home to Kansas City, but again settled only for pics I caught earlier before heading track-side.

Later that day we visited the Walnut Creek Recreation Area and the Nebraska Crossing Outlet Mall both in Gretna, Nebraska and the Strategic Air Command Museum in Ashland, Nebraska, (I will be covering that and another smaller air museum in Council Bluffs that we visited on my Military Air Fan blog here on WordPress) and finally the Finders Keepers Antique Mall/ Coffe Shoppe in Percival, Iowa.

I also had the week of July 16th-July 23rd off though my wife did not, and while I could have gotten in a ton of rail-fanning that week, it was so hot out (100 plus most days) I hardly wanted to get out. I did get one Norfolk Southern video on Monday 7/17, and a few videos in North Kansas City, Missouri and at at Kansas City Union Station on Friday 7/28/17 as I attended my very first meeting of the Kansas City Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society, that meets most 4th Fridays in the 3rd Floor Kansas City Terminal Railway Boardroom at Union Station: (check out my Facebook group Fans Of The Kansas City Terminal Railway) I have since started a Facebook page for them: see Kansas City Chapter NRHS. I planned to attend again on Friday 8/25/17, but something came up. Hopefully I will be back with them on 9/22/17. We were on vacation the week of  8/12-8/20/17 but I tried to concentrate on time with my family and did not get out to do any rail-fanning. That was my last vacation for 2017.

Here are my latest Legacies On The Rails Fan Videos from You Tube:

I hope that as I always encourage you to do that you are in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and pursuing Him daily through His Word, prayer, and active fellowship in a local church. And when it comes to trains and all things railroading, that you continue leaving Legacies…On The Rails!

27th Anniversary Trip Yields Excursions And Makes Me A Frisco Fan!

LOTR Post 17-013

As I have traveled to the Losh-Worley Family Reunion in Willow Springs, Missouri http://www.willowspringsmo.com/ from Kansas City, Missouri since July, 2010, and it involving so much time on the road, I had been getting frequent pics of Frisco Railroad cabooses in towns like Osceola, http://www.cityofosceolamo.com/ and even in Willow Springs, but initially to me, they were well preserved railroad rolling stock that I could get up close and personal with, and that was cool. I had even picked up an HO Scale Frisco Box Car on one of my trips from the Moccasin Trails Antique Mall https://www.facebook.com/OsceolaAntiques/ in Osceola.

But until the trip my wife and I took our recent trip to several cities in Arkansas http://www.arkansas.gov/ for our 27th Anniversary, that had us first landing in Eureka Springs, Arkansas http://www.eurekasprings.org/ on Sunday 4/23/17, later taking us to Rogers http://visitrogersarkansas.com/ Springdale http://www.springdalear.gov/ Bentonville   @ http://www.bentonvillear.com/and various other nearby cities, I never stopped to consider the true impact of this “Fallen Flag Railroad” known as the St Louis-San Francisco or simply just “Frisco“, whose motto was “Ship It On The Frisco“, and whose logo was patterned after dried raccoon hides, that at one time were being sold at some old time depots in the road’s early days.

According to Wikepedia Incorporated in Missouri 9/7/1876, and formed from the Missouri Division of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, The Frisco operated in the Midwestern and South Central U.S. from 1876 to April 17,1980 (how appropriate that our trip was also in April.) At the end of 1970 it had 4.547 miles of road on 6,574 miles of track not including its subsidiaries Quanah, Acme & Pacific Railway, and the Alabama, Tennessee & Northern. It was absorbed by one of my family connection railroads, the Burlington Northern on my wife’s birthday 11/21/1980. The Frisco one of only two railroads (the other being The Katy) that were authorized to build on Indian land.

The city of Frisco, Texas http://www.friscotexas.gov/ is named after the railroad and as the aforementioned Frisco logo is patterned after dried raccoon skins, the Frisco High School mascot is the Fighting Raccoon.

The Frisco had 16 steam locomotives #19, #1351, #1352, #1355, #1501, #1527, #1529, #1621, #1625, #1630, #4003, #4018, #4500 and #4524. In its time of operation, it also operated several stream-liner diesels. Today, the road is operated by the Burlington-Northern-Santa Fe (BNSF).

On Sunday, 4/23/17 after arriving in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, we checked into the Green Tree Lodge http://www.eurekaspringslodge.com/ where the owner graciously upgraded us to the Honeymoon Cabin at no extra charge once she found out it was our anniversary, and I have to tell you the cabin was extremely luxurious, and even included a jacuzzi tub, a back deck, and we felt really spoiled. She also found out that I am a huge rail-fan, and directed us to the location of the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railroad that we could walk around and take all the pics we wanted to.

Later that evening, we visited the Lake Leatherwood City Park in Eureka and I recorded one of my Moments Of Tranquility Videos, at a nice waterfall area. I encourage you to check out this growing series on You Tube, as I encourage anyone feeling overwhelmed by life to “Take 5 and have a virtual sit” by streams, creeks, ponds, fountains, waterfalls, rivers, lakes, from our various travels as well as our local Kansas City area and to focus on a scripture verse about water.

We stayed there Sunday and Monday nights. Later, we realized my wife had left her glasses behind and we called the owner, she had found them, and fortunately, though we were in Bentonville at that point, we were returning to Eureka Springs the following weekend for their City-Wide Garage Sale, as well as to ride the aforementioned Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railroad https://www.esnarailway.com/ as it was only running Saturdays in April, so we were able to pick them up then. I am giving the Green Tree Lodge 5 out of 5 LOTR Railroad Cross-Bucks.

Our next hotel stay was the Super 8 in the aforementioned Bentonville, Arkansas. You can find it on pretty much all the booking websites. It was clean for the most part, except for one area of the bathroom on some vertical support type structures attached to the tub, and we had some issues with getting the TV to operate properly. I am giving it 3 out of  5 LOTR Railroad Cross-Bucks.

On Tuesday 4/25/17 we were in Rogers, Arkansas. First order of business was lunch after visiting with Ashley Matsumara at the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber Of Commerce http://www.rogerslowell.com/ where she presented me with a very cool Rogers Arkansas Chamber pin in the shape of a steam locomotive, and we both agreed that every railroad town ought to have something like it to present to visitors. I am giving the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber Of Commerce 5 out of 5 LOTR Railroad Cross-Bucks.

Lunch was at Pop’s Hog Wild Barbecue https://www.facebook.com/popshogwild/ just across the street from the Chamber as the wonderful smoky smell that every barbecue lover knows, was wafting across the street and was not to be denied. Gary took really good care of us there. I had a pulled pork sandwich meal and Denise had the pulled pork nachos. It was a gorgeous day to sit outside and enjoy some Arkansas barbecue! I even took pics of Gary’s tattoos (though I am normally not a tattoo fan) because they were Batman and The Joker and I included them in a new Facebook Album I started (one of many I started on this trip) called The Batcave. I give Pop’s Hog-Wild Barbecue 5 out of 5 LOTR Railroad Cross-Bucks.

And as we began to walk around the town of Rogers, with me in my Kansas City Southern Locomotive t-shirt, people immediately gravitated to us and realized I am into trains and began to share their stories of family members that worked on railroads and how much of a Frisco town Rogers is. I have not had that kind of welcome by so many people in any town we have visited in all our travels over the years. We certainly appreciate their very generous hospitality! The people of Rogers, Arkansas are definitely in a class by themselves and I give them 5 out of 5 LOTR Railroad Cross-Bucks.

Folks that we met included Myra, the owner of The Trolley Line Bookshop https://www.facebook.com/Trolley-Line-Bookshop-221526167897843/ . She grew up with her father and several other relatives working on the Union Pacific Railroad and when she found out it was our anniversary week, she presented us with a gift in a mystery book that was written by a local author and takes place on the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad, that is also carried in the railroad’s gift shop. While we were there, Character Actress Sondra Torchia https://www.facebook.com/sondra.torchia stopped by. She calls herself “a Katy Brat” as her father worked on the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad.

So, of course, for her wonderful Rogers, Arkansas hospitality, and the cool name of her store, I give The Trolley Line Bookshop 5 out of 5 LOTR Railroad Cross-Bucks.

We also visited The Rusty Chair Antiques  https://www.facebook.com/rustychair/ where owner Julie Loose made us a sweet deal on an AT & SF Caboose print, and she had a couple other AT & SF items in the store including a caboose heater and a bucket.

Here is another railroad themed business in Downtown Rogers, The Rail: A Pizza Company https://www.facebook.com/The-Rail-A-Pizza-Company-127680870619752/

And the Iron Horse Coffee Company https://www.facebook.com/Iron-Horse-Coffee-Company-114000608623293/

Tuesday evening, we checked in to the Super 8 Hotel in Bentonville, where we would stay Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and we headed to the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad facility in Springdale where I took several pics and a short SD70ACE power move video, and ordered our tickets for the excursion trip we were to take on Wednesday evening.

Wednesday started out rainy, foggy and a bit chilly. I was told they had several inches of rain overnight, and when we attempted to visit the War Eagle Cavern, check them out http://www.wareaglecavern.com/ as we love doing cave tours and had done the Cosmic Cavern http://cosmiccavern.com/ in Berryville, Arkansas http://www.berryville.com/ earlier in the week, but due to all the rain, water levels in the cave prevented them from giving tours but they did let us take the trail that leads to a cave exit so we could see the water pouring out and all the streams that run along the outside. I recorded another Moments Of Tranquility video there as well.

From there, we headed to the War Eagle Mill, https://wareaglemill.com/ hoping to take the tour there, but they were just closing up, again, due to rising flood waters. Upon our return to Kansas City, my wife found pics online that showed the War Eagle Mill, and other areas we were in on the trip, including the Beaver Bridge http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/beaverbridge.html  in Beaver, Arkansas http://www.beavertownarkansas.com/ that we had crossed twice trying to get home on Saturday 4/29/17 during heavy rains and rising waters under water. Didn’t realize until I started working on this posting how much of a landmark the Beaver Bridge is.

The War Eagle Mill just after we returned to Kansas City.

And, of course, Wednesday evening, we took our train ride on the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad. These folks were also extremely gracious in the fact that there had been a change in their schedule so that instead of just a regular excursion that evening, there was a group of 60 children from a local school that were now riding as well. And as with the Green Tree Lodge upgrading us to their Honeymoon Suite, the Arkansas & Missouri gave us a train car “The Explorer” pretty much to ourselves, except for the Conductor, Christopher and one of the other train crew being with us for a good portion of the time,  and in addition to more pics and video, I recorded a two-part Episode 14 of the Legacies On The Rails Podcast with Christopher.

Thursday, 4/27/17 we were back in Rogers, Arkansas, and checked out The Cottage At The Barn Antiques https://www.godowntownrogers.com/cottage-at-the-barn anbd had a picnic lunch at The Railyard Bike Park http://rogersar.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/The-Railyard-57 and I got to go catch a very short Arkansas & Missouri Railroad freight train. Then we walked the trail that ran from The Railyard to Lake Atalanta https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/arkansas/lake-atalanta-trail that has a stream that runs along the trail and empties into the lake, so I took the opportunity to record my third Moments Of Tranquility video that was then posted to You Tube along with the Legacies On The Rails Fan Video of the train.

Later in the day we visited the Crystal Bridges Museum Of Art http://crystalbridges.org/ in Bentonville.  We later checked into our final motel of the trip, the Country Mountain Inn http://countrymountaininn.com/ back in Eureka Springs. The owners are a wonderful Christian couple that we had a great time of fellowship with as we checked in.

On our anniversary Friday 4/28/17, we rode the Eureka Springs Trolley http://www.eurekasprings.com/transportation/transport.html originally meaning to use it to get to the various locations that the City Wide Garage Sales were going on, but quickly figured out that wasn’t happening because if we got off at stops that were not assigned Trolley stops, it would be even longer and harder to get back on each time. So instead, we chose to get off in Downtown Eureka Springs and walk around the various shops there. We later returned to the Country Mountain Inn and retrieved our car and took it to catching the last two hours of the garage sales. Dinner that evening was at the Forest Hill Restaurant http://foresthillrestaurant.com/. When we first arrived and for most of our meal, we were the only ones there except for the staff. The facility was clean, the staff was friendly, the food was good. There is a gift shop that you pass through as you enter that looks like a part of a Christian bookstore. I give the Forest Hill Restaurant 5 out of 5 LOTR Railroad Cross-Bucks.

Later that night, we enjoyed having a bonfire with the owners of the Country Mountain Inn.

On Saturday morning 4/28/17 we headed back to Downtown and rode the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railroad. And, who knew that on the trip with us would be another couple from our native Northland area back in Missouri with their anniversary being the same day as ours but Jimmy Jay and his wife Sabrina Jay from Excelsior Springs, Missouri who had been married since 4/28/01, and are also our Brother/Sister in Christ were on the train with us. Jimmy and I are now Facebook Friends and hope to eventually get together for further rail-fanning! It is truly a small world! We were riding the ES&NA Passenger Car #2585 and were pulled by the former Missouri Pacific Alco #2742 that has 600 tracktive effort horsepower.

But there was a challenge that lay ahead for Denise and I that I eluded briefly to earlier. It had rained all night in the area we were in and rain had steadily picked up as we were riding the train and as we headed back to Missouri. The route our GPS (nicknamed “Dorothy”) was taking us kept leading to nearly flooded or already flooded roads during torrential down-pouring rain. We were really scared of getting trapped and were both getting frustrated but God was faithful and we eventually found our way out but it had taken us 4 hours to reach 71 Highway when it should have taken just 1. Here are is a pic Denise later posted of the Beaver Bridge that we had to cross twice that was later quickly under water.

I’m John Losh “The Losh-Man“, and I pray that with all the references I make to it here in the blog and on my videos that if you had not already done so before reading any of my posts that you have now entered into a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and are experiencing the joy of following Him each and every day.  If you haven’t, you can still do so! And, when it comes to trains and all things railroading, Continue leaving Legacies…On The Rails! I’ll see you next time!

 

Revisiting History: Trains Of The Civil War

Welcome back to Legacies…On The Rails! This is my 9th installment for 2017 as we keep rolling down the tracks toward Spring! Today, we will be discussing trains and railroads of the American Civil War. First let me say that these days, I know some find it offensive to discuss any part of our nation’s history that they find suddenly uncomfortable. Well, I find that fact offensive because those who deny, try to blot out or do not understand or learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I will not apologize for visiting this topic and as a matter of a fact, the phrase I personally coined some time ago is: If you don’t understand where you’ve been, you do not truly understand where you are, or where you are going, or why.

I will never dishonor the memory of my ancestors (or yours) that put themselves in harm’s way or even lost their lives generally serving in our armed forces or fighting in any of the battles that have made our nation what it is, by avoiding study of, or discussion of these periods.Denial cannot erase historical facts. I actually make it a daily point to go out of my way to approach and thank any of our active duty military or those wearing their Veteran caps, jackets, etc. Have you thanked a Veteran today? The freedoms we enjoy as Americans are not free. I love the saying these days that only two have offered, or died for you, Jesus Christ, and our American Military! May God continue to bless and keep our Heroes! And though it may be your “right”, those who are choosing not to stand for the presentation of our Nation’s Flag and the National Anthem……you are dishonoring those who have or are currently fighting for your protection, and spitting on the graves of those that have died fighting for you. You disgust me!

Some do not realize just how vital the railroads were in the tumultuous years of the Civil War. Not only in the transportation of men and goods, but in the eventual defeat of the South. The Confederacy simply did not have the financial or material means to adequately maintain the railroads in their area. They only controlled 9,000 miles of trackage, while the North controlled 20,000 miles.

It also did not help that Northern troops were in the regular habit of burning or otherwise destroying rail bridges, (which, though I certainly do not condone slavery then or now, and understand the necessity, as the creator of the Facebook page Railroad Bridges, Related Photos & Video is kind of sad for me to think about). They were also in the habit of pulling up tracks, heating them until they would bend and tying them around trees, creating what was known as “Sherman’s Neckties“. The Union blockades of sea routes also kept the South from being able to obtain vital supplies to maintain the railroads. This all combined to keep Confederates from being able to ship their cotton crop, so they could not woo the help of European nations.

Unemployment rose in southern states as they had to let go of so many railroad workers. Confederates also usually destroyed as much of a town’s rail equipment as possible before retreats were done. I was actually shocked to see that in the beginning of the Civil War, the Confederacy actually controlled 135 railroads. But also in the beginning, in both southern and northern areas, most railroads were short lines that did not connect with continuing tracks, which made truly long distance rail transport difficult.

The Civil War was also the first time that a train mounted gun was ever created and employed, and the first time that train cars were used as makeshift hospitals. Both would continue into the two World Wars.

But fortunately for both sides, though the Confederacy still eventually fell, with the decline of their railroads playing such a huge role, in 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Pacific Railway Act, authorizing construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. The Union Pacific built west from Omaha, Nebraska and the Central Pacific Railroad built East from Sacramento, California. The finalization of the Transcontinental Railroad was culminated with a ceremony on May 10th, 1869 as the two lines met in the
city of Promontory, Utah. When President Lincoln drove the Golden Spike to complete the line, it was attached to a telegraph wire that sent the news from coast to coast. It was the spike that was heard around the world. Four more transcontinental roads and 174 million acres for them eventually came to be authorized as well.

Here are a couple of my current reads on this subject at the moment. Nothing Like It In The World: The Men Who Built The Transcontinental Railroad on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Like-World-Transcontinental-1863-1869/dp/0743203178 and The Union Pacific: Birth Of A Railroad check it out at the link:
https://www.amazon.com/Union-Pacific-Railroad-1862-93-Hardcover/dp/B00IGYPKXO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1488725961&sr=1-1&keywords=Union+Pacific+Birth+Of+A+Railroad .

Probably the most famous American Civil War related railroad story is that of the theft by Union Soldiers and Civilian Scout James J Andrews in Northern Georgia April 12, 1862 of the steam 4-4-0 locomotive known as The General. It was built by Rogers, Ketchum & Grovesner in New Jersey. Part of my personal railroads collection are items related to The General. I have also been to the Walt Disney Hometown Museum in Marceline, Missouri https://www.waltdisneymuseum.org/ (Disney was a huge railfan) and even have friends that are from Marceline. and other friends that have worked the railroads that pass through it. There is a room in the museum almost entirely dedicated the Disney movie The Great Locomotive Chase. I also just purchased the movie on my Google Play Movies collection.

Here is a song about the chase by Robert W Smith that I also found on You Tube:

While the Disney film that starred Fess Parker (Davey Crockett) and Jeffrey Hunter who was the Captain Christopher Pike in the very first Star Trek Pilot: The Cage, was released June 8th, 1956 (cool for me as both my Mother Maureen Losh and my Son John W Losh III were both born in June), there was an earlier version called The General that starred Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman, that was released February 5th, 1927 (again cool for me, I was born in February).

I thought of posting the entire lists, but instead I am going to encourage you to do searches on Railroads Of The Civil War as well as books on the same.

I may do a later blog expanding further on this topic but I think we are off to a good start here. Hope you have enjoyed these beginning tidbits of info, and the videos I found and shared about Trains Of The Civil War.

I am going to start a couple new features that will continue from here on in the Legacies…On The Rails Blog and maybe even the Podcast.

The first is a Railroad Equipment Profile. In this feature, I will share pics I have taken of locomotives, freight cars, grain cars, tankers, cabooses, etc and their origins.

This first installment Of my new Railroad Equipment Profile features the Dome Car Prairie View (Great Northern Railroad Empire Builder #1394 that I recently caught at the Kansas City Union Station. The following information on it’s credit goes to Trainweb.org.

Prairie View” – to BN 3/70 (same number), to Amtrak 9364. Was eventually used as an Amtrak parts car and was sold 5/93 as a shell (less trucks) to the BN. Stored Springfield MO (ex Frisco shops) until sold 1994 to Holland America Westours. After putting over $1m into it, car is now in service in Alaska. It carries the name “Deshka” and entered service in 1997. In 2003 Westours put all but 3 of their Budd domes up for sale as `”excess”. They kept 1394 because it required no coupler pocket modifications for the new Colorado Railcar domes and it has Budd braked trucks (from under one of the two 1956 Budd built Santa Fe business cars that were retrucked with 4 wheel trucks in 1989). Car transferred late 2004 to a new division called Alaska Rail Tours (defunct) with the other retained cars to begin service in 2005 in a non “cruise ship” travel/tour operation in Alaska. Sold 10/09 to Iowa Pacific/San Luis & Rio Grande. Renamed back to original “Prairie View”.

The Second is Railroad Old Time Radio. Anyone that knows me knows that I love old movies, old TV shows, and the radio versions of many of them. We will begin with Episode 17 of Gunsmoke. Set in Dodge City, Kansas, it was billed as the first adult western, and its radio show that starred William Conrad as Marshall Matt Dillon first aired on CBS on April 26th, 1952. (Again, cool for me as both the first date Anniversary and Wedding Anniversary for my wife Denise and I are both in late April (25th/28th respectively). This episode aired September 27th, 1952. My daughter Cara Losh was also born on a much later September 27th. I am loving these connections as I am not a believer in coincidence! Hope you enjoy it. We may start sharing Railroad Movies as well (which I kind of already did by sharing The General with Buster Keaton above.)

Thanks again for joining me! until next time, I want to again encourage you to accept the free gift of Salvation and forgiveness that the Lord Jesus Christ offers you and to follow Him each day of your life. My reading this morning with breakfast was in Romans 9-12 and the verses that stood out to me were Romans 10: 14,15 (NKJV from Bible Gateway)

¹⁴ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

Well, if I don’t see you down the rail line, if I don’t see you here, I pray I’ll see you In The Air!

St Joseph Missouri Rail History Hunting

Welcome back to another edition of Legacies…On The Rails! I appreciate you joining me again as we close out another week here in early 2017.  So, what’s a Railfan to do on his birthday when he’s turning 29 for the 18th time and has the day off with his wife? Why a Railfan road-trip, of course!

Just as I indicated in my last posting as we planned on Wednesday 2/8/17, we headed about an hour north of Kansas City to St Joseph. By the time we hit town, it was time for lunch and our Google Maps search for food found us a cozy little place called The Diner On Francis Street https://www.facebook.com/TheDinerOnFrancis/ . It is owned and operated by Chef Karlon Ray Ables, aka: “Scrappy“.  He said he started the establishment last June but didn’t really “get going” until about August. Not only did a very appetizing aroma greet us when we walked in but “Scrappy” was a very gracious host, and was quick with the service and did a great job with my wife Denise’s Hot Beef Sandwich and my Cheeseburger that came with perfectly seasoned steak fries. It also turned out that he comes from four generations of railroad workers!

He shared that his Grandfather Roy Lease was an engineer for the Burlington and when the CB&Q 5614 Steam Locomotive (pictured above) was brought to St Joseph to be donated and displayed in its current home in St Joe’s Patee Park, his grandfather drove it from Omaha to St Joseph and “Scrappy” got to ride it from Forest City to St Joseph! We also met another friendly gentleman there whose neighbor and others he knows are big into model railroading and he knows several folks that have worked on the railroads in the area. I look forward to hearing from them so I can bring you their stories as well!

The Diner On Francis Street already had decor on all the tables that showed that Chef Karlon Ray Ables was ready for the Valentine’s Day crowd and we hope he sees lots of folks that day, ready for a romantic and delicious dinner!

With our stomachs full and content from Scrappy’s great home cooking, we headed to the Patee House Museum http://www.ponyexpressjessejames.com/patee/index.php that opened in 1860 as a luxury hotel that now houses pretty much everything for the St Joe history lover, including a replica old town street complete with businesses you could walk right into including Photography Studio, Newspaper Office, General Store, Dentist, Optician, Physician, Blacksmith, Undertaker, Barber, Bank, and Dressmaker.

Of Course, the most important to me was the Railroad Station complete with signals, schedules, and pictures, and many artifacts on display.

But the “icing on the cake” as far as the museum goes for me was the  CB&Q/Hannibal & Missouri steam locomotive #35 “The Missouri“(the very first mail train).

I picked up some postcards and even a key-chain, all with the #35 on them as souvenirs from their gift shop. I later realized that when my daughter Cara and I visited our cousin George Hess and his family for a day in March, 2015, I had my picture taken with a mural there in Downtown Chillicothe, Missouri (another town that the CB&Q was a prevalent railroad in) that you have seen in a previous blog entry, and it turns out that in a way of speaking, this is not the 1st time the #35 and I have crossed paths.

There were also model train pieces and even a working layout in the facility as well.

Our next stop was the Jesse James Home & Museum, https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g44880-d290950-Reviews-Jesse_James_Home_Museum-Saint_Joseph_Missouri.html on a different part of the property. It is where Jesse was living when he was gunned down by Bob Ford, and though he and his brother Charlie Ford were acting as hitmen hired by the Governor to assassinate James, they were not supposed to shoot him in the back, and were the arrested and convicted of murder, but later pardoned, and each was only given $750 each of the overall $10,000 they were promised, and were told to get out of town. Charlie later committed suicide, while Bob was eventually gunned gown in a saloon brawl.  This is of particular interest to us as it is believed that Henry Lafayette Barr, who married Jesse James’ daughter Mary Susan James is a relative of my wife’s on her Paternal Grandmother Daisy Mae Barr-Mapes‘ (wife of a KC Southern man, Denise’s Grandfather William R Mapes Sr, and mother of some KCS workers in the Mulberry-Pittsburg, Ks area) side, we just need to establish the official connection and I am in the processs of Geneaology research hoping to eventually do just that.

Of course, of further interest to me is the fact that James and his various gangs wre known for not only bank and stage, but train robberies, as indicated in the Wanted Poster above.
Some of their train heists included their very first, and believed to be the very first Old West train robbery of the Rock Island & Pacific near Adair, Iowa July 21st 1873. They broke a piece of the rail and caused the train to derail into a ditch. When they didn’t find what they were looking for, they robbed passengers of their wares.

There is a historical marker at the spot of the robbery now, as there also are at the sites of all of James’ rumored 8 total train robberies. They also include the Gads Hill Train Robbery of the train from St Louis, Missouri to Little Rock that was currently in the stage of its journey that took it from Malvern Park to Hot Springs, Arkansas that took place just after they robbed the General Store in Gads Hill on January 15th, 1874 and the Blue Cut Train Robbery in Glendale, Missouri because they believed the Chicago & Alton train was carrying $1,000 to $3,000 in gold, but they found and got away with considerably less. Credit to westerntrips.blogspot.com , sundowntrailblog.com , and biography.com for much of this information.

Our final stop of mention on the day was the Remington Nature Center https://www.visitmo.com/remington-nature-center-of-st-joseph.aspx . On the way there, as it sits next to railroad tracks that sit along the river, I saw a BNSF coal train headed in our direction and as it was my only opportunity for actual live rail-fanning that day, I hoped to catch it in both pics and video, but #1 as coal trains are often known as “Coal Drags” because of their low speed, this one was anything but…..it had to be the fastest coal train I have yet seen as it was flat haulin’! #2, we had to turn around in Remington’s parking lot and let’s just say (as we were in her new car with her driving, my wife just does not have my lead train-chasing foot as I would behind the wheel of the Legacies On The Rails Cruiser, so these shots of Citirail (CREX) 1341 (ES44AC) and BNSF 5714 (AC4400CW) were the best I could get.

But the Remington Nature Center did also have displays related to railroads in St Jospeh, both past and present and a replica of the front of the CB&Q/Hannibal & Missouri “Missouri”, and information about it.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this bit of rail and other history from St Joseph, Missouri. I started this posting in Kansas City, Missouri but am finishing it from the Quality Inn in Wichita, Kansas where tomorrow, we’ll be on to our next railfan adventure!

As always, this is John Losh “The Losh-Man” reminding you to always follow the Lord Jesus Christ each day of your life which is the ONLY way to truly stay on track, and when it comes to trains, continue leaving Legacies…On The Rails! I’ll see you next time!

Anniversary/Rail-Fan Trip Was Well Worth It

I am a few weeks behind on posting this but sometimes life happens. Last time on Legacies On The Rails, I detailed some of what my wife Denise Losh and I would be doing in celebrating our 25th anniversary railfan style, and we did just that. But we learned quickly that the last half of our first full day would end up being the best part of the entire trip aside from the fact of having the week together, and getting to see our son in Columbia, Missouri at both ends of the trip. On Saturday 4/25/15, we started out at the day with a re-visit to the Museum Of Transportation in St Louis, Missouri. If you read my very first blog on this site from June, 2014, you will see some pics from our family visit there in March of 2008. Here are pics from this time through.

The same day, we were in Jackson, Missouri to experience Murder….On The Petulant Express with the St Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway. Knowing as they did that an anniversary couple was on board, they made this a very special experience, including seating us alone, putting a large vase of flowers on our table and providing a bottle of sparkling grape juice in a table-top ice bucket (that we saved for our actual anniversary date-4/28/15), as well as making an actual public announcement about our anniversary.  We really appreciated everything they did for us. The dinner and entertainment were great as well. I was however mistaken in thinking that the passengers were to be among the “suspect list” and I didn’t realize that until we were well under way. I had even created a short monologue in which I told some fellow passengers and some of the actors before we boarded that “If ya’ wonder who killed Peter Petulant, I did see? #1 He was hittin’ on my girl. #2 He was a rat and a snitch, see? Threatened to go to the Feds and expose my whole operation. So, I ‘punched his ticket’….had him fitted for a pair of cement overshoes, and had him tossed off the railroad bridge for fish-food. Get in my way, and I’ll do the same to you, see….?” Can you tell I’ve done community theater in the past? But in the end, the guilty party was a young baseball player named “Kid Root” that had played for Petulant before he was traded to Chicago at a substantial pay-cut. Here are some pics and video I took before and during the excursion.

During part of our couple days’ stay in Perryville, Missouri, thanks to a good eye by my wife, we caught this BNSF coal-drag.

Later in our trip, we visited Downtown Paducah, Kentucky and while walking along their river-walk, saw their display of an Illinois Central steam locomotive, mail-car and caboose and met a gentleman who had just found out the previous day that his father had been a fireman on the very same rig. And we found this really cool business, the Main Street Station General Store/Restaurant that had lots of railroad decor.

Later, In Illinois I caught these along the road.

Our next stop was the Historic Railpark & Train Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky where volunteer and former military man Bob Barnes took us on the tour. This facility features the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. Unfortunately, I took video of the whole tour but none of it survived after I mistakenly thought I had uploaded the first half to You-Tube twice, and deleted it, after it had also been deleted from my phone in trying to cleear up space. Then as I had mistakenly recorded the second half vertically and could not fix that, I chose not to upload it. I did pick up an L&N pin for my hat and a railroad crossing change purse while we were there.

Our final railfan stop was the Tennessee Central Railway Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. It was also a guided tour like the museum in Bowling Green. Picked up a post-card, a t-shirt and an L&N HO Scale box car while we were there.

I did pick up a few rail related items at antique stores during our trip, and one at a local church’s garage sale since then.

I also started a list of rail road numbers that I hope to eventually find models of (if it’s possible) of trains I have ridden with, or taken pics or video of, or bear the years myself and several family members were born, and the year my paternal grandfather passed.

Upon my return to Kansas City, there has been very little time for railfan activity due to #1 helping my lifelong friend and brother in Christ Russ Steel who just recently moved back to Kansas City with his family start New Life Baptist Chuch, whose first service is Sunday 5/24/15 at 10am at 5959 NE Antioch Rd in Gladstone, Mo and #2 helping my daughter Cara Losh, who was chosen during our time out of town as a State Finalist for the National American Miss Pageant in Columbia, Missouri in late June find sponsors. National Train Day on 5/9/15 was a bust for me, as I stayed up in my area, where I found nothing going on. I should have gone to Union Station or the Great Northern Railroad but I’ll know better when National Tran Day 2016 rolls back down the tracks.But it has been getting better time-wise, so here are some pics that I took on National Train Day and some pics and video since then.

National Train Day May 9th, 2015

I have more and shot Legacies On The Rails Fan Video # 83 today but have not uploaded it to You Tube yet and the additional pics I am saving to make another picture video with before putting them on Facebook (which is where I then download them from so I can share them on here.

I have also been listening to quite a few model railroad pod-casts while I am at work doing data entry, including continuing to  http://www.modelrailradio.com/, as well as starting to listen to The Model Railcast Show https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/modelrailcast-show-model-railcast/id267135824?mt=2-I was sad to hear that its creator Ryan Anderson tragically passed recently and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family, but I’m sure his legacy will carry on through those who were his co-hosts. I have been listening to the The Model Railroad Hobbyist Pod-Cast http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/podcast/episodes, and The Model Railway Show http://www.themodelrailwayshow.com/  and took in some of The Scotty Mason Show http://podbay.fm/show/407848070 to name a few . There are a few that just don’t seem to be compatible with our computers at work like The Roundhouse Pod-Cast which I am listening to from home as I post this.

I’d like to again remind you about the Legacies On The Rails Art Show at the Cathy Kline Art Gallery in the former CB&Q Depot in Parkville, Missouri Saturday August 1st 6pm-8pm CT 8701 NW River Park Dr. 10% of sales benefit the Model Rail Experience at KC’s Union Station-that I plan to return to volunteering at next week. Hope you will make plans to attend!

Let’s finish up with some railroad music as always. Here’s Rod Stewart-a well known model railroader himself, with Downtown Train.

I’m John Losh, saluting all those who continue to leave Legacies……..On The Rails!