A little history

I'm a Missouri Pacific fan and a history buff. The Mopac ran through my home town of Waterville, Kansas. The line was originally built as one of the Transcontinental lines named the Atchison and Pike's Peak Railroad, but later changed its' name to the Central Branch of the Union Pacific. After the realization that the line would not be transcontinental, the hope of the line was to meet up with the proposed line from the Kansas Pacific to the Union Pacific transcontinental line in Nebraska. That line was not built. Jay Gould controlled the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific and purchased the Central Branch and then quickly leased the line to the Missouri Pacific, another Jay Gould line. The Missouri Pacific formally merged the line in to the Missouri Pacific system in 1909. The line was part of the Mopac until the merger with the Union Pacific in 1982. Various line abandonments followed and then the line was leased to the KYLE Railroad. The KYLE operated the line until the line from Ames to Frankfort was abandoned in 2001. A 10 mile section was left in place for use by the Central Branch "Historical" Society from Blue Rapids to Waterville, Kansas.

The prototype Waterville and Washington Railroad was built from Waterville to Washington, Kansas starting in April 1876 and being completed in December 1876 and then leased to the Central Branch.

My connection with the Railroad stems from some of my ancestors riding the train to the terminus of Waterville in 1868 and then settling near Hanover, Kansas. Other relatives also took this route and settled just north of Waterville.

Some interesting facts about Waterville in this timeframe is that Waterville was actually another stop on the Chisholm Trail and would take overflow of cattle that Abilene, Kansas, could not ship. Waterville for a period of time shipped more cattle than Abilene. History also notes a heard of 5000 turkeys being shipped by rail from Waterville.

I choose the name Waterville and Washington Railroad to honor the history, connection, and section of the railroad I want to model.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sides of the depot assembled.

Image
Merry Chirstmas! Work continues on the Mopac's Blue Rapid, KS, depot. I've assembled the depot exterior walls and completed the asbestos siding on the ends. All windows are glued in. The bay window piece isn't glued in yet as I want to finish the interior to include the floor and walls. I received another order of styrene from Evergreen so I can work on the exterior corner trim pieces. I still need to install the interior trim around the windows/door and the wainscoting. I'm waiting for temperatures to warm up to allow me to airbrush.   South side of the depot Interior view looking west - awaiting floor, interior walls, and finishing North side of the depot - minus the bay window
Read more

Work continues on the Blue Rapids depot build

Image
 Continuation of the Blue Rapids, KS, Missouri Pacific build in O scale (Proto:48). I went back and examined the south side of the prototype depot and it appears that there were a series of windows above the freight room door. Using the entry door as a guide, I scratch built the windows and sill. I've noticed that there are three different style of doors used on the freight room. I'm not sure what was used on the south side and made an educated guess to have it look similar to the north side door. The bay window build proved to be challenging especially trying to laminate three sheets of .020 styrene. I made an educated guess at the size and angle of the bay. I still need to laminate one more sheet for the interior of the depot to the bay.  Test fitting the bay to the depot. I still need to paint the north wall and then I'll attach the bay window. I haven't decided on when to install the asbestos siding. I think I may do it prior to installing the bay. There is a wood t
Read more