Legacies On The Rails Roadshow Heads East To Historic Lee’s Summit

Just as promised in my last posting, since I also had a hospital visit to make there, the Legacies On The Rails Road Show destination yesterday was historic Downtown Lee’s Summit, Missouri. Hometown of my buddy Fred Liggett, of the Lee’s Summit Tribune. Anytime that I can visit a depot that is for one of the railroads that I have family history in, that’s always an extra plus for me and since the one there is the former Missouri Pacific Depot, I was thrilled.

Not only that but this has now become another of my favorite regular spots to visit for rail-fanning, as Union Pacific trains, much like they do at the depots I have visited in Weston and Parkville, rumble by there multiple times a day, and my timing was perfect as I had just stepped out of my car when it was clear that my first video catch of the day was upon me, with the blast of a UP 7982’s air horn. Here are both videos that I took during my visit.

The former Missouri Pacific Depot in Lee’s Summit is third generation. The very first depot was a box-car. Later a wooden building that later burned, and was then replaced by the current brick structure that like the depot in Parkville,housing its Chamber Of Commerce, this one  currently houses the Lee’s Summit Chamber Of Commerce. One of their ladies was kind enough to oblige me in taking my  photo shown above with the caboose that sits next to it. The Depot is currently undergoing renovations. When I asked if someone could share with me about the history of the depot,I was directed to Kathy Smith-Executive Director of the Historical Society Of Lee’s Summit Museum http://www.leessummithistory.net/ .

Kathy was so gracious in taking time to ask if I needed anything as I looked around the facility, where a Lee’s Summit Veterans display is currently housed, as well as in taking time to share the information I sought with me. I was thrilled to find out that the museum is housed in a former WPA Post Office since I have been studying the 1930’s as I eluded to in my last posting in preparation for doing the 1930’s murder mystery ride wit the St Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway  on 4/25/15.

Kathy shared about how important the railroad has always been to the city of Lee’s Summit. It helped them rebuild after the ravages of the Civil War. A time period that saw the likes of Cole Younger and Bloody Bill Anderson. And Dr Pleasant Lea. Ir brought jobs, and made sure that farmers could ship their goods, receive supplies, and send equipment out for repairs and get it back. It has provided for the transportation of people, and still does today with the Amtrak Missouri River Runner coming through several times a day. It is one of the reasons behind the rich history of Lee’s Summit. History represented by murals like these on buildings around town. Speaking of Cole Younger, Kathy Smith was also well acquainted with our own Cathy Kline of the Cathy Kline Art Gallery, as Cathy Kline also has a Cole Younger mural there in town, which I missed on this trip but hope to catch next time.

I also found this mural inside the Lee’s Summit Historical Society Museum by Aileen Franklin-which is among many of her circa 1960 Lee’s Summit history murals including The Community Church, The First School, Dr Pleasant Lea, Early Settlers, and The Star Route.

Unfortunately, like some of my other Legacies On The Rails Road Show trips, a technical issue bit me in that the audio of my conversation with Kathy that I thought recorded and that I planned to upload as Legacies On The Rails-The Podcast Volume Two did not record. Even If I had known this as soon as we were done, she would not have had time for a re-take. I should have taken video to upload to You-Tube as I seemed to be doing well with that on the day. But, more opportunities will come very soon when I return to the Lee’s Summit Historical Society Museum to help bring several railroad artifacts up from their basement to display on the  main floor.

I hope you have enjoyed this snipit of the fabulous history of the railroad in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. I assure you that like my blogs about Kansas City Union Station’s Model Rail Experience, (which I hope to return to soon if my personal schedule allows), there will be much more Lee’s Summit highlights to share in the near future!

I’m John Losh, reminding you to keep leaving Legacies……On The Rails!

Plenty Of Rail-Fanning Going On!

As you probably imagined, I have not been idle as far as overall rail-fanning activity these past few weeks. Usually, if I’m not at work, or with family, or behind the computer blogging about rail-fanning, I’m out doing it. Whether it is stopping to take pics or video on my route to or from work, a quick run over to Parkville to do the same, while dropping in on Cathy Kline at the Cathy Kline Art Gallery, or even taking a Legacies On The Rails Road Show trip like I am planning tomorrow, to Lee’s Summit,Missouri where I will visit my Cousin Renita Tilton who is hospitalized there with Cancer, as well as visiting the Missouri Pacific and Amtrak Depots there. http://www.greatamericanstations.com/Stations/LEE .

If I have not already mentioned it in a previous posting, I am proud to announce that the Legacies On The Rails Art Show at the Cathy Kline Art Gallery will be Saturday, August 1st from 6pm-8pm. 8701 NW River Park Dr in Parkville, Missouri. 10% of sales will benefit the Model Rail Experience that I volunteer at in Kansas City’s Union Station! Hope you will mark your calendars and plan to attend!

Here are some of my recent photos and videos. In addition to taking video now, anytime I can get it from my car, I have started playing Christian music CD’s while the train passes and calling it (still as a Legacies On The Rails Fan Video) Gospel Trains. Have done three of those that I will share.

Harry s Truman Amtrak Depot in Independence, Mo

Near the former Sam’s Town Casino in KC North. Definitely getting an enlargement made of this one!

23rd Street area in Kansas City, Mo

Outside the former CB&Q Depot/Cathy Kline Art Gallery in Parkville, Mo

North Kansas City, Missouri. The BNSF Loco is another that is likely getting an enlargement made of.

Riverside, Missouri

Liberty, Missouri at the Canadian Pacific Depot and off Stockdale Rd

And, as my wife and I are gathering funds for our 25th Anniversary trip later this month which will include some great rail-fan activities like riding the St Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway on their “Murder On The Petulant Express” dinner train that I am definitely looking forward to http://www.slimrr.com/ , we have had some garage sales and I have sold some items on Facebook Swap & Shop pages. This led to one of our garage sale visitors being Joe Debane, who worked for 40 years testing railroad freight scales  Joe is a daily regular at the Timeless Treasures Antique Mall that my family and I shop at often. Joe has a booth there and sells primarily Hot Wheels cars. He has bought pretty much my entire die cast collection, as I have enjoyed them for many years, but as we need the funds, and I need the room in my several-themed rec-room to expand my railroad collection, it was time to part with them. Joe gave me several polaroids and some post-cards from his time in the rail industry that I took these pics of, that I have also now  shared on several railroad Facebook pages.

 

I almost forgot to mention my newest Legacies On The Rails project, just started yesterday, the Legacies On The Rails Pod-Cast!
http://legaciesontherails.podomatic.com/entry/2015-04-13T11_49_53-07_00 . Many more entries to come. Hope you enjoy this inaugural episode!

 

As usual, let’s wrap up with a railroad music video, led off by the man in black, Johnny Cash!

I’m John Losh, reminding you to keep leaving Legacies……On The Rails!

Legacies On The Rails Roadshow Rolls Into Parkville, Missouri

As I sit here at home, watching DVD’s of “All Aboard: Great American Railroads” that I received from my wife for Christmas 2014, I am more excited to write this post than probably any other I have done on any of my blog sites!  Among my various Facebook pages is Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (Burlington Route). It currently has 28 members. Among its newest is my Facebook Friend and brother in Christ, Craig Coffey.

Recently I asked if there are any of the old CB&Q depots still standing. Craig immediately shared the fact that the building that had once served as City Hall for Parkville, Missouri is a former CB&Q Depot, and the current City Hall in Weston, Missouri (that is also a rail museum) is also a former CB&Q Depot that Craig’s own father’s items are on display in. I then found sites like this one:

It documents all the still existing depots in Missouri. I also located sites that document all the still existing steam engines on display in Missouri. This gave me an exciting idea. The Legacies On The Rails Road Show that will make at least weekly “Whistle Stops” (a nod to the old steam era as well as to President  Harry S. Truman‘s “Whistle Stop Tour“) at some of the depots and steam engine displays located here in the Kansas City, Missouri area and eventually at many of the others across Missouri, and being recorded on video and pictures and being shared here on the Legacies On The Rails blog. Later there will be the state of Kansas and many others to take on!

I decided that Parkville, Missouri would be the very first “Whistle Stop” on the Legacies On The Rails Roadshow and had just the person in mind to accompany me on this new adventure. Brandon Gott-my longtime friend, also brother in Christ and owner of the Barista De Casa coffee shop http://baristadecasa.com/ that I frequent and do a lot of my writing from, and is mentioned in the acknowledgements of my latest book project 30 Godly Lessons From My Life-Volume One https://www.createspace.com/5275569?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026 had recently told me about a guy he knew I would want to meet. His name is Jordan Gallacher. Jordan is a brother rail-fan and loves taking photos of moving trains. His Twitter handle is @railmaster87. He is taking guitar lessons like I probably should be since I own one that I can’t play. He loves biking and walking. Here’s the thing: Jordan is blind. just from what I heard, I  already admired him., so yeah, had to meet him! So we became Facebook Friends and arranged to meet at Barista De Casa yesterday morning, and once I had my raspberry mocha in hand, we headed to the Legacies On The Rails Cruiser and off to downtown Parkville.

On the way into Parkville on 9 Highway, we got lucky and caught this east-bound BNSF Coal Drag.

There would be other rail videos (most I’ve captured in a single day) and pictures to get but the real treat was the fantastic lady we would soon meet when we arrived at the 1889 erected CB&Q Depot that as I mentioned later served as Parkville, Missouri‘s City Hall that currently houses the Parkville Chamber of Commerce.….and the Cathy Kline Art Gallery. (CathyKlineArtGallery@gmail.com) .

Here is Cathy outside her gallery with her promo banner, as well as displaying a news article about the history of this former CB&Q Depot that was active for passenger traffic until the 1970’s. Cathy was also featured in the Novenber-December issue of North Magazine in an article she authored called “Present day masters in Parkville” on pages 54,55. Cathy has the distinction of being the only local gallery that features the work of Kearney, Missouri resident, artist and sculptor Gary Staab whose work has been featured on the Discovery Channel, and he has produced sculptures for the Smithsonian Institute, Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the National Geographic Society. And that’s just to mention a few of his accomplishments! You can view his work at http://www.staabstudios.com/

Here is a piece that quickly caught my eye that she did of Colorado’s Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad that I own some collectible items representing and a DVD that profiles it.

 

Here are some pics I took of old photos from the history of the Parkville Depot.

 

Here is one of the two windows that passengers used to be able to purchase their tickets from:

Among the many pieces on display in the Cathy Kline Art Gallery are these pieces painted by others that Cathy teaches art to that are their renderings of the depot building.

 

Here is Cathy-assisted by her dog “Bogie”-named after Humphrey Bogart-which anyone that knows my love of classic movies knows I was loving, giving us the tour of the depot and her gallery

Here is a KC Southern Coal Drag that rumbled past the depot/gallery (which is now my new favorite rail-fan spot):

But what developed during our visit was potentially the start of a great addition to the Legacies On The Rails Roadshow. Cathy was fascinated by some of the info that Jordan and I shared about trains and said she would love to incorporate more railroad pieces into the gallery and maybe even feature a section of them in her upcoming show “Wine & Spirits & Art-Oh, My!” I hinted that may-be it could be named the Legacies On The Rails section. She loves the title and what it represents, and says she can do that! We even discussed doing an eventual railroad-only art show wait for it….the Legacies On The Rails Art Show that could feature not only railroad art, but a model railroad display (here’s where the boys from Heartland N-Trak Of Greater KC, the Great Northern Railroad, and Union Station’s Model Rail Experience that as I shared last time, I am a new volunteer with, could get involved. Could even have a table for Operation Lifesaver.

Could become a yearly event, and though she and I need to discuss that later, I’m thinking maybe eventually a traveling show that could visit other former train depots! Cathy shared that the current Parkville City Hall has some railroad items on display (turned out to be all CB&Q which I was loving) so that was the next stop for Jordan and I before we called it a day, for me to return him to Liberty and me to head to work. Along the way, we heard this coming behind us on Main St and as I started to come about, Jordan’s heightened senses told him it was too close for me to catch the front of but I was convinced I could still do so. Guess what-he was right! Later as I sat there, I thought “Wait, I should still capture some of it!”

Here are just some of the CB&Q treasures displayed in the upstairs of Parkville City Hall (not showing all of them, don’t want to spoil it for ya’):

 

This first stop was everything Jordan and I I hoped for but soooo much more! So I hope you look forward to many more “Whistle Stops” along the Legacies On The Rails Roadshow, and I’d like to thank Craig Coffey for helping ignite this idea, and thank Cathy Kline and the Parkville Chamber Of Commerce for helping preserve and care for the Parkville Depot, as it continues to leave Legacies…..On The Rails!