dlohrmeyer
Active member
Well, this route is still very much a work in progress but, I have finally completed the Hoisington, Kansas yard facilities for it. So far trackage stretches from just east of Hoisington to Olmitz, Kansas a distance of about 15 miles. This is part of the old Missouri Pacific line to Pueblo, Colorado that has an interesting story to tell...the line was dormant from 1982 to 1984 after the UP/MP merger, in 1984 the Rio Grande acquired trackage rights from Pueblo, CO to Kansas City, MO over the Missouri Pacific/Union Pacific. Enter 1989, Rio Grande has bought out the Southern Pacific and assumed the SP name. Traffic double and even tripled in the next 8 years with SP running into Kansas City and having trackage rights over the Burlington Northern into Chicago. The line once again was dormant after the UP/SP merger and was eventually spun off to a shortline. Only a small fraction of this line remains operational today and the ABS signal system has been removed, although the signals still line the tracks. An interesting fact is the line was always owned by the MP and UP but SP and DRGW ran all of the overhead trains, UP ran the local freights, dispatched and provided crews for the SP trains.
Image #1: SP train SGVCC an empty coal train running from Sauget, IL to Vulcan, UT sits in front of (stand-in) Hoisington, Kansas depot.
Image #2: Union Pacific local power lays over in front of the common Kansas grain elevator.
Image #3: The autoracks belong to an eastbound SP manifest as we look at the west end of the yard and small diesel shop facility.
Image #4: SP 8584 is the leading unit on the eastbound RVKCM (Roseville, CA - Kansas City, KS, Manifest), in the background is the east end of the switching yard.
Image #5: The rear end of the empty coal train sits next to the power of the OANSF (Oakland, CA - Norfolk Southern (KC), Forwarder), with the RVKCM in the background.
This was long winded but the line was very interesting operationally wise and I look forward to finally getting some scenery going on the route. For some comparison with the real deal here are two photos taken in the SP-era of the east end of the yard at Hosington:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=429529&nseq=1
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=431336&nseq=0
Thanks for reading and looking!
Image #1: SP train SGVCC an empty coal train running from Sauget, IL to Vulcan, UT sits in front of (stand-in) Hoisington, Kansas depot.
Image #2: Union Pacific local power lays over in front of the common Kansas grain elevator.
Image #3: The autoracks belong to an eastbound SP manifest as we look at the west end of the yard and small diesel shop facility.
Image #4: SP 8584 is the leading unit on the eastbound RVKCM (Roseville, CA - Kansas City, KS, Manifest), in the background is the east end of the switching yard.
Image #5: The rear end of the empty coal train sits next to the power of the OANSF (Oakland, CA - Norfolk Southern (KC), Forwarder), with the RVKCM in the background.
This was long winded but the line was very interesting operationally wise and I look forward to finally getting some scenery going on the route. For some comparison with the real deal here are two photos taken in the SP-era of the east end of the yard at Hosington:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=429529&nseq=1
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=431336&nseq=0
Thanks for reading and looking!
