I am waaaay late publishing this update. I was hurt on my job back in Mid October of 2017 and was on injury leave for 9 weeks and sick leave for another, and while that left me more than ample time to be keeping up with all my blogs, I simply got out of my routine and just wasn’t finding motivation. So, it’s obvious that 2018’s blog posts and videos number will be substantially lower that 2017.
I have been in a 9-5 Monday thru Friday job since Mid February. Between the job, time with my wife, hosting a weekly Ministry radio show called Fulfill Your Ministry on 102.7 FM KPGZ-Kearney, Missouri Community Radio, that airs Saturdays at 9am CT, and delving more into my studies of the Bible, even completing a 13 Lesson online non-accredited course called The Story Of Scripture through Dallas Theological Seminary, and others that will follow, I have had and will continue to have less time for railfanning, blogging about it, etc. But I will do the best I can.
But I wanted to post an update on my railfan stats for 2017 especially in the face of a two week trip my family and I embark on Friday of this week, that will have us trekking across seven or more states, that will provide ample opportunities for excursion train riding, rail museum and rail display visiting, a Railroad Heritage Days Festival and more.
Legacies On The Rails Fan Videos: 84
Cities/Areas Railfanned: 35/30 (now up to 77 Cities over 10 states since March, 2008)
Rail Museums:5 Union Pacific Museum-Omaha, Nebraska RailsWest Museum Council Bluffs, Iowa Union Station Omaha, Nebraska Railroad History Museum Springfield, Missouri Patee House Museum St Joseph, Missouri
Railroad Facebook Pages Created:5 Wabash Cannonball Union Pacific Flag Units Rail Box Freight Car Fans Mid-Train Helpers Kansas City Chapter NRHS
Here are 4 of the last 5 of the 84 Legacies On The Rails Fan Videos:
Hope you are continuing to follow the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart mind and soul each day, and if you haven’t accepted Him as your personal Lord & Savior that you will do so today! And when it comes to trains, and everything that is Railroading, Continue Leaving Legacies…On The Rails!
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’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!
Welcome on in to our rail-fans of all ages, to this edition of Kansas City Union Station Model Rail Experience Weekly for the week ending 3/27/15. Hope you enjoy the musical twist I put on this week’s rail video as I will likely be doing it every week from here on, using various genres of music, including some Christian artists.
When I arrived this week, instead of individual train car repairs being done in the MRE shop/office, I found Gary Whittaker-grandson of fellow volunteer Fritz Gastreich, and Ted Tschirhart working on a possible electrical issue on the HO Scale “Centennial Layout”.
Gary has been volunteering at the Kansas City Union Station Model Rail Experience for about two years, and says he really enjoys working with all the small parts that go on the many, many trains and individual cars that make up the various consists. Here is a video I took of trains running on the HO/Centennial Layout.
I want to remind everyone that we are always in need of more volunteers at the Model Rail Experience, as well as donations-both financially and of model trains and the various supplies. Anything that can help keep our operating costs low yet still provide a quality visual and overall experience for our guests is always greatly appreciated.
Rather than focusing on a specific train scale this week, thought I would just share more of the sites, including the great variety of model train pieces we have, representing the various different railroads all over the world, and even some pics from our Amtrak Station inside Union Station. I hope to start meeting with them and start including some updates from them and eventually the KC Rail Experience here in the blog. May even have to rename it the Kansas City Union Station Rail Experience, who knows. But I think including those other great parts of your overall railroad experience at Union Station would be a good thing.
Another of our Model Rail Experience volunteer staff I had the privilege to meet during my time there this week is Mike Laroi, who has been volunteering with the MRE for ten years and feels it is a great way to spend his retirement.
But, unfortunately after a little mustard mishap while eating my Train Burger during lunch at Pierponts (my fault, not theirs) but during which, the idea was being tossed around among our staff of a table in the Model Rail Experience where we could sell our excess pieces to raise funds for the operation-nothing definite on that to report at this juncture, I had to skip out early this week so I did not have a chance to get a guest profile, or even get down to the basement to see if I wanted to buy myself any new HO Scale toys.
I am also proud to announce that we now have an official date for the Legacies On The Rails Art Show at the Cathy Kline Art Gallery 8701 NW River Park Dr in the former CB&Q Depot in Parkville, Missouri! It will be Saturday, August 1st 6pm-8pm. Admission is free and 10% of art sales will benefit the Model Rail Experience! Hope we will see you there!
In the interim, you are looking for a great place to take the train lovers in your family (or even yourself), please make a point to visit Kansas City Union Station soon and certainly stop in and see us at the Model Rail Experience, visit Amtrak, the KC Rail Experience, and step out into the back lot and get some train pics and video. With every visit, you’ll be glad ya’did!
I’m John Losh for Kansas City Union Station’s Model Rail Experience,. Until next time, reminding you to keep leaving Legacies………On The Rails!
Welcome back to Kansas City Union Station Model Rail Experience Weekly. This is for the week ending March 13th, 2015 and I apologize for my tardiness in getting this posted but I have been dealing with some technical issues. There will not be a blog for the week ending 3/20/15 as I was not at Union Station but was instead meeting with Cathy Kline of the Cathy Kline Art Gallery housed in the former CB&Q Depot in Parkville, Missouri to discuss details for the Legacies On The Rails Art Show that will be held in August, 2015 with the official date yet TBD. I will post an update as soon as possible (has to do wit my work schedule) but I am happy to say that 10% of the proceeds from the sale will benefit the Kansas City Union Station Model Rail Experience! Ted had asked me about looking into a fundraiser for the MRE so there’s a great start!
After I arrived and got the above photos and video from Union Station‘s back lot , I went in to the Model Rail Experience and found Ted Tschirhart and Fritz Gastreich hard at work on model rail road piece repairs-Ted on a steam engine, and Fritz on one of the G Gauge Amtrak passenger cars, repairing a coupling that had come off. Louis Seibel was dealing with some issues with cars on one of the mixed gauges layout tracks.
I soon discovered something else I thought was cool. I had thought I was the youngest member of the Model Rail Experience volunteer staff, until I met Steve Cassity and his eight-year old son Jaden Cassity. Steve brought Jaden down to the MRE a few years ago, where he became simply enamored with the various model train sets and now Jaden is a volunteer right along with his Dad. Below is Steve, and Jaden is working on righting one of the G Gauge trains that had derailed. Steve and Jaden both commented on how Jaden’s current size is a real advantage because when one of the trains breaks down or derails in part of a layout that would be hard for one of the adults to reach, Steve can simply lift Jaden up over the plexi-glass and let Jordan either retrieve the piece for repair, set the train back on the track, back it up, or pull it forward. Or even simply move a piece that is simply needing transfer from one track or layout to another, return a piece to a track after it leaves the Model Rail Experience Office/Repair Shop. Steve says that Ted has become a great mentor to Jaden who admires Ted very much. There was also a bonus for me in the fact that I got to meet Steve’s brother Fred Cassity, who invited me to come and tour New York Air Brake in Riverside, Missouri where they refurbish braking systems and other parts for trains. I took him up on that on Wednesday 3/18/15 and my next blog posting will cover that. It will actually be the first of likely a series of postings as I make more visits to their facility in the near future.
So, as usual, a few different things to focus on this session. One of those is yet another of the various scales of model rail layouts that can be found in the Model Rail Experience facility. this time, it’s N & Z Scale. Here is the wall hanging in the MRE that tells you about the two similar scales, followed by a video that I was able to get.
Next is our guest spotlight. My next door neighbor and Kansas City, Missouri Firefighter John Donnelly recently brought his son to visit the Union Station and the Model Rail Experience and when his wife Tanya Donnelly shared these photos, I requested and was granted permission to share these photos. She said they both had a great time and will definitely come again soon! I so appreciate her willingness to allow me to share these!
Next, want to continue to share some of the assorted railroad company pieces we have at the Model Rail Experience, including a Union Station Tribute car, Union Pacific, Santa Fe and Missouri Pacific. Here are some pics and a video for you.
Again, I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing more of the people-from visitors to volunteer staff, to the displays that make the Kansas City Union Station’s Model Rail Experience a must visit!
I’m John Losh. For Legacies On The Rails, and the Kansas City Union Station Model Rail Experience, thanking you for what you have done in this area and reminding you to continue leaving Legacies…………..On The Rails!
Welcome back as we head into Kansas City Union Station Model Rail Experience Weekly Volume Two! This edition is for the week concluding on 2/28/15. I hope that since my last posting you have had the opportunity to take your family to visit all the great family activities that your Kansas City Union Station has to offer, including the Model Rail Experience! We are now proud to announce that Discover Vintage America Magazine‘s March Edition is out and features a tow page spread on pages 14 and 15 that covers in great detail the history of the model railroading hobby as well as how Union Station has evolved to include the Model Rail Experience. You can get copies at your local antique malls, flea markets and more or view it online at http://www.discoverypub.com/feature/index.html . We at the Model Rail Experience would like to express our sincere appreciation to Larry Elmore and Discover Vintage America for doing this wonderful feature! Here is the photo of some of the MRE crew that was featured in the article.
You hopefully know me well enough by now to know how I started off my day at Union Station last Friday. Looking for the opportunity to get pictures and video of real trains. And, as usual, I was not disappointed as I got my first Amtrak pics since Locomotive #180 was idling on the tracks by the back lot just waiting for me to share it with you and it wasn’t long before a Union Pacific manifest (guess I said BNSF in the video….my bad) came rumbling by. I wasn’t as close as I would have liked to have been for the video-was actually hoping to get it from the warmth of the Legacies On The Rails Cruiser that you see backed in during the video but I had just come from where you pay to park. Didn’t get all of the train because it was only 10 degrees, I had no gloves with me and my fingers could only take so much.
I was pleased to discover when I arrived inside the Model Rail Experience that Louis Seibel had just brought in a cart full of boxes…….and boxes of model rail cars, locomotives, cabooses, scenery, tracks and more that had just been donated. Remember, everything at the MRE is by donation, and I’m told there is more to come from this same donor, so we were certainly grateful! Here are the guys beginning to look over it next to the Santa Fe mural painted by Teresa Keene (artshpgrl@yahoo.com) .
Then, after our usual lunch at the Pierpont’s Restauaranthttp://www.pierponts.com/ where my favorite (as it is for several others in the MRE crew) is the Train Burger (and if you come on Fridays it’s cookie day), and I discussed the recent Johnson County Home & Garden Show with Ted, we headed to the basement of Union Station to begin really going through these wares to figure out what there was and was not immediate need for, and what items the members of the crew may want to purchase of the excess for their personal collections (all funds going to the Model Rail Experience). I picked up some HO Scale pieces myself.
Ok, so I want to focus on a couple of things this week. Last week we focused on the HO Scale Gauge trains. This time, we will focus on the Lionel O & S Scale layout. Then I will show some of my favorite pieces we have from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.
Here is what we have hanging on the wall near the Lionel O &S Scale layout, and an overall view of said layout.
Here are a couple of pics from the layout, starting with something I currently love to visit in real life, a caboose display. Then there is a caboose from Kansas City Southern that my wife’s paternal grandfather worked for, as did some of his sons, One of them is still in current service with KCS. The caboose bug recently bit me as I think they are cool and now that they are rarely ever used anymore and most are just on display here around KC, around Missouri and all over the country.
Here are some KCS box cars that are part of the Lionel S & O Gauge layout, along with a replica of the exact cable car that is on display out in the back lot of Kansas City Union Station, where I take my pics and video both before and after I come work my volunteer hours at the Model Rail Experience. Here is something from the internet about O Gauge trains. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_scale .
Here are some of our Chicago, Burlington & Quincy pieces. I also hope that we will see some of you at the Mid America Train & Toy Show at the KCI Expo Center tomorrow. We will not have a table there but many of the Model Rail Experience staff attend the show, both to pick up items for our own personal collections, as well as to scout potential pieces for the MRE layouts. http://www.midamericatrainandtoyshow.com/ .
Until next time, go check out KC’s Union Station and the Model Rail Experience. I’m famous for saying this during times I’ve done part time radio in the past-You’ll be glad ya’ did! I’m John Losh, reminding you to keep leaving Legacies………………..On The Rails!
The last week of February proved to be a busy and fun experience for the Legacies On The Rails Road Show. It started with me planning to take a solo trip to Warrensburg, Missouri on Sunday, 2/22/15 to visit my Cousin Renita Tilton who was in the hospital there with cancer (would appreciate your prayers for her and her family) and do a bit of Road Show or general rail-fan stops along the way. But then my wife and daughter wanted to come along and also go visit my son John who attends the University Of Missouri, lives and works in Columbia. This was initially due to the fact that my wife thought Warrensburg was a lot closer to Columbia then they are, so what would have been maybe a four hour excursion for me, turned into a twelve hour day for the three of us. But it was worth it.
So, after having breakfast with John at the Columbia IHOP, we headed back toward Warrensburg. But not before stopping a couple places along the way. The first was the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Depot in Downtown Columbia that is now the Shiloh Bar & Grille.
Next it was on to another former MKT Depot in Booneville, Missouri. Unfortunately, it was not open to allow us access to see what is on display inside, but we were able to enjoy the sight of this beautiful Spanish style building’s exterior as well as the MKT 134 Caboose that is on display outside and get some pictures and video.
And, of course, you already saw the caboose by itself at the start of this posting. Then after visiting my Cousin in the hospital, the next stop before heading back to Kansas City was the former Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot, currently used by Amtrak, BNSF and Union Pacific in Downtown Warrensburg. It opened in 1889-the same year that the former CB&Q Depot that I recently posted about in Parkville, Missouri that currently houses the Parkville Area Chamber as well as the Cathy Kline Art Galleryhttps://www.facebook.com/cathyklinefineart was built. Stop in and check it out and stayed tuned to Legacies On The Rails for updates on the Legacies On The Rails Art Show that we hope to have take place there in early Summer. Unfortunately, though the Amtrak/BNSF/UP Depot building was open and I did, as you can see in the video, take a quick look inside, there was no one there to tell me about the depot and no trains coming or going at present. But I did help myself to the Amtrak Vacations Magazine that was part of the free literature they had available.
On Monday, 2/23/15, I headed back to Parkville, Missouri briefly and caught these BNSF and Union Pacific videos.
Then on Wednesday, 2/25/15, Jordan Gallacher and I headed up to Weston, Missouri to visit the former CB&Q Depot that currently houses the Weston City Hall, has some great CB&Q items on display including some that belonged to my friend Craig Coffey’s father during his days with the CB&Q Railroad and has a caboose on display that was originally a Union Pacific car but is now painted in the green & yellow Burlington-Northern scheme.It was painted this way and moved to Weston after the family of Ed Kirk, a Burlington-Northern Engineer who was killed in a car accident on his way to work (like my grandfather John Losh of the CB&Q was killed on his way home from work in Keokuk,Iowa in 1964), wanted something to honor Ed’s memory, bought it in St Joseph, Missouri, had it moved to Weston and BN paid to have it put on rails.
Unfortunately, the video I took there of City Clerk Kim Kirby telling us about the depot and the rail videos I got of Union Pacific and BNSF trains rumbling through Weston and one of them as it passed the depot were lost when Jordan and I returned to my home after the trip, and I thought I had all the pics and video saved to my computer and started the upload process of the videos to You Tube, removed my camera’s memory card from my computer and cleared it. But I had saved the photos. And, as my friend Craig (who also told me the Ed Kirk story) said, that just means a repeat visit to Weston in the near future.
There are more pics, but they are on Jordan’s camera. And,on our way to take Jordan home to Liberty, got this video of a UP manifest from the Richfield Rd bridge over the tracks just north of the Canadian Pacific Depot in Liberty. I was busy trying to take pics without using my zoom (didn’t realize digital zoom mode was off and kept getting blurry photos when zooming) that I missed the lead locomotive of the three engine set.)
I wrapped up the week with my now usual Friday morning volunteer session at the Model Rail Experience at Kansas City‘s Union Station, but I will cover that later this week in Kansas City Union Station Model Rail Experience Weekly-Volume Two.
My Legacies On The Rails Road Show destination for this week, on Thursday 3/5/15 accompanied this time by my daughter Cara Losh will be the former CB&Q Depot in Chillicothe, Missouri and a lunch get together for Cara and I with my Cousin George Hess, also a former railroader.
Well, as usual, let’s close with some railroad music-this time with Arlo Guthrie–The City Of New Orleans
Until next time, I’m John Losh encouraging you to keep leaving Legacies…………On The Rails!
Welcome to the first edition of Model Rail Experience Weekly. This will be an effort to document the weekly activities and special events at, as well as the history and volunteer staff that make the Model Rail Experience at Union Station possible. I am a relatively new volunteer there and am not sure just what my role will be but I suspect as I am a less than technical or mechanical person, though I am willing to try anything asked of me, I suspect that it will be largely in a documentary role through this blog, pictures and videos.
On Friday, February 13th as I was arriving to put in some volunteer hours at the Model Rail Experience, I parked and began my day with what every rail fan loves to do, especially at Union Station, getting pictures and video. This Union Pacific stack train was preparing to move out West-Bound, so I go the photo and the video. That’s one thing that visiting Union Station will always provide any rail-fan with, picture and video opportunities. So be sure to visit the rear lot when you come and see what you can catch. Once I was inside the Model Rail Experience,Ted Tschirhart who heads up the volunteer staff at the MRE, informed me that it had been a pretty typical week at the MRE and that the MRE staff were preparing for a layout at the Johnson County Home & Garden Show at the Overland Park Convention Center this past weekend 2/20-2/22 . I will have a report for you on how that went in the next edition of Model Rail Experience Weekly. Ted also shared that one of the greatest needs the MRE has right now is someone that could put lighting inside the many buildings featured in the various scale layouts. If you are someone with that skillset and would like to help, please come see Ted at the Model Rail Experience.
One of the things we at the MRE seek to begin doing is to educate folks about the various different scales of model trains being run at the MRE and to eventually create a user guide to have at each layout so those observing can do more than just that, but be able to begin to comprehend what they are seeing and the operations, locomotives and cars that make up the set. I chose to begin with concentrating on the HO Scale. This is the most popular gauge of model railroads out there, and provides for the most track, car, locomotive, scenery and other supplies to help HO Scale modelers create the best and most interesting layouts that their imaginations, as well as help from online videos, model rail publications, podcasts, clinics and tv shows can create. Here are a couple of pictures of the HO Scale layouts featured at the Model Rail Experience. HO Scale is actually 1/87 so one foot equals 87 feet. Here is something from Wikipedia about HO Scale Trains. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HO_scale .
This particular HO Scale layout got its start in Match, 2014. It had two mountains recently added. Some of the rocks you see are real, some are made from plaster and are painted. It can run up to 13 trains on the layout. The day I was there, Ted had trains running from CB&Q, Santa Fe, Rio Grande, Union Pacific, Baltimore & Ohio, KC Southern, Norfolk & Western, Perie Marquette, Ashley Drew & Northern, and Reading. There were many, many other railroads represented by locomotives and cars that were just serving in a display role. I asked Ted if he knew how many individual rail cars and locomotives make up any certain layout and he said too many to guess. There are easily hundreds just on this layout alone, and more are added as the MRE acquires more pieces through donations or purchases allowed by the MRE budget, that comes strictly through donations. Some of the buildings on display in this, or any of the MRE layouts represent actual businesses past or present in Kansas City, Missouri. Most are donated while others are scratch-built by MRE volunteers, either at the MRE facility, or in their own model rail workshops at home, and brought in to be added to the layouts. My next step was to begin to get to know more of my fellow Model Rail Experience volunteers, and sought their wisdom to learn more about the history and operations of some of the MRE layouts. Here they are with one of the layouts that is made up of
several different scales.
Left to right are Louis Seibel, Dave Taylor and Bob Ryan. Louis resides in Olathe, Kansas. He was formerly a part of the volunteers that ran a model rail layout that was on display at the Kansas City Museum. It was started in 1985. When the layout was moved to Union Station in 1991 (and is now a part of the layouts the guys are with in the picture), he came with it. He is a member of the Mokan Rail Joiners that turns 35 years old this year as well as being part of the Turkey Creek Division on the National Model Rail Association. He prefers working with HO Scale and also does garden railroading.
Dave has been a Model Rail Experience volunteer since 2005 and prefers to work with all the various scales that we feature.Bob Ryan started at the MRE in 2008 after a church family member brought him down and got him into it. Bob enjoys the variety of activity that being a MRE volunteer provides and especially enjoys doing projects here from scratch into a finished product. Bob has a Lionel layout in his home.
While I was there on 2/13/15, I had the opportunity to speak with Bob Deaddy from Lenexa, Kansas who was visiting the MRE with his wife and four grandchildren, ranging from age four to ten. He said he has never seen such a diverse model rail facility like the MRE before but did remember seeing a layout that the Model Rail Experience had in the main lobby about five years ago. He said his family had a 4×8 layout in their home when his children were young. He has fond memories of actually jumping on and trains in the early 1950’s when he lived near Springfield, Ohio. Not a practice that anyone in the rail community will encourage today that I certainly understand as a certified speaker (still looking for my first presentation or table opportunity) for Operation Lifesaver-the rail safety program, since December, 2014.
Another thing that made Friday 2/13/15 interesting is that we had a visit from Larry Elmore of Discover Vintage America Magazine, who interviewed all the MRE volunteer staff for an upcoming edition of the popular magazine that you will find in antique stores/malls, flea markets and much more. https://www.facebook.com/DiscoverVintageAmerica
We hope you will come see us at the Kansas City Union Station’s Model Rail Experience soon and maybe think about joining the volunteer staff or making donations that will help us continue to leave Legacies………..On The Rails!
December started off busy for me as a rail-fan. Beginning with Monday, December 9th, when I was supposed to meet my friend Chad Martens at the Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, Missouri. Just as I arrived, I saw that I had a message from him that he was going to have to take a “rain-check”, as something had come up for him.
So, as I was leaving to head back home, I got this off Kiger Rd just outside the Genealogy Center’s parking lot. I tried to find a spot to take a pic of the tracks on either side of this bridge, but they ran behind a residential area, so you’d have to be in folks’ back yards to do so.
Then as I started heading back toward home, and got on I-70 West, I was nearing Noland Rd and saw a sign for the Independence Amtrak Station that I had never visited before. I put the location in my GPS and headed that way. As I was proceeding north on Noland Rd, I got this:
Here are the pics I got at the Amtrak Station/Jackson County Genealogical Library-both appeared deserted that day:
I also made a stop on Front Street that day and got these:
On Tuesday, December 9th, I had in-class training with Operation Lifesaver-the last step in becoming a certified speaker for them. The training included covering safety regulations in the OLS Volunteer Handbook, reviewing slides and making practice oral presentations. I was surprised that there were only three of us in the class.
This was kind of nostalgic for me as the training took place in the very same building that my late paternal grandmother worked in’retired from that used to house Loretta’s Norfolk & Western Cafe, and is now part of the Norfolk Southern Depot in North Kansas City, Missouri. Being on NS property with permission obviously provided for some great photo and video ops, so I took advantage with these:
On Friday, December 12th, my shift from work had our 2014 Christmas Lunch at the Argosy Casino in Riverside, Missouri and on my way in to work afterward, I got what I consider to be one of my best photos yet, there in Riverside:
On Sunday, December 12th, I had hoped to make it to The Great Train Expo in Overland Park, Kansas but after church, my daughter wanted to take one of her friends to Crown Center. And though she drives, she had never driven there before, so I offered to go pick up her friend and take them. This also included a visit to Union Station. Between the two facilities, I got these pics and videos:
I got these in North Kansas City on my way to work later that week:
On Saturday, December 20th, we were back at Crown Center and Union Station after my wife, my daughter, myself and our friends Alicia and Christina Hessenflow dropped off toys at Children’s Mercy Hospital that are gathered in the name of A Cara Christmas Toy Drive To Benefit Children’s Mercy Hospital that our family has done for the last few years. https://www.facebook.com/cmctd . Got these while we were there:
And then there was Christmas, when I got these:
I will be posting reviews 0f the videos here on the blog very soon! I am not the only one that has been busy with rail-fanning . My friend Shane Mason (thebrakeman17) has been posting on his You-Tube page recently as well. Here are some of his latest You-Tube postings:
Well, let’s wrap this up with some kind of railroad music from one of my favorite artists, Glen Campbell:
Until next time, keep leaving Legacies………..ON THE RAILS!
Who would have thought that being on vacation this week, not being ready to leave town yet, and looking for inexpensive things to do here in Kansas City, would lead to a new, regular addition to my life? That’s just what happened today.
My wife wanted to check out the Money Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank Of Kansas City, which is just around the corner from Union Station, where I wanted to check out the Model Rail Experience.
Once we arrived at Union Station, it was clear that from outside and all along the way leading inside, there was much for any railroad fan to take in. But what was about to captivate this rail fan was the 8,000 square foot facility known as the aforementioned Model Rail Experience that was featured in the Summer, 2014 edition of Union Station‘s On Track Magazine.
Many folks will come into their area of Union Station, and marvel at the many virtual towns they have set up and the many train sets that are constantly running through them, maybe watch the staff of volunteers headed up by Ted Tschirhart at work, constantly changing the rail layouts, the mini-buildings, the lighting.
They may snap a few photos. Obviously I did. And more than just a few. I was again looking for trains related to those in my family and my wife’s family who have, or do work on railroads as well as other things of personal interest like these KC Southern cars.
Or this building that is obviously a Jazz establishment that looks like someplace you would go to hear music like that played in my friend John Christopher’s show The Neon Beat that you can check out at http://www.radiogeorge.com/neonbeat/.
Or this model of the Western Auto building in Downtown Kansas City that is very near one of the lots I park in for work.
Or this scene that has another of my favorite things-a classic diner. (Right side)
Or many people’s favorite fast food venue, Mcdonald‘s .
I am likely not the only one, but I’m an inquiring mind. And. when I started asking questions, I was directed to the aforementioned Ted Tschirhart who was more than happy to not only answer my questions, but also to have me share about why I love trains, and was soon asking me to volunteer with the Model Rail Experience. An invitation I was all too happy to accept and hope to start doing in the next week.
The Model Rail Experience has more than just virtual towns containing often familiar buildings with model trains constantly running through them. It features info on the walls that educates on the history of model railroading, the different sizes of model railroad sets like these.
As well as educating on special trains that have been a part of railroad’s past in America like this feature on the Portland Rose.
Or these that feature a California mountain rail trip.
But to keep this facility running, so that the thousands of visitors they receive each year can continue to come to this free experience and continue to learn about model railroading, they need your help! They need volunteers with model railroading experience, or even those who are simply willing to learn about building the many rail towns they feature, doing electrical work, gluing things together, working with computers and printers, helping give tours and much more!
If you would like to help with Union Station‘s Model Rail Experience you can contact Union Station Volunteer Coordinator Rebekah Caneles at rcaneles@unionstation.org or when you come to visit, seek out Ted Tschirhart or e-mail him at tedtsci@kc.rr.com . I know you’ll be glad ya’ did! This is definitely a place dedicated to leaving Legacies…..On The Rails!
Legacies...On The Rails!!! 