Memories of the Midwest

 

An empty Burlington Northern coal train rolls across western Nebraska towards Alliance.

Your author is an Okie who went to college in California and has spent significant time in Wisconsin, St. Louis, Dallas, Atlanta and Maidenhead, Berkshire.  During business travels, I have worked in virtually every major American city and many minor ones, and I have noticed that people in different places think about Oklahoma in different ways.

California -- Oklahoma is full of Southern inbred idiots.

Wisconsin -- Oklahoma is Southern. 

St. Louis -- Oklahoma is Midwestern.

Dallas -- Who gives a shit about Oklahoma? 

Atlanta -- Oklahoma is Western. 

Maidenhead -- Oklahoma is where the corn is as high as an elephant's eye. 

So when I decided to write an article about some of my favorite places in the Midwest, I had to decide whether to include my home state.  After minimal and absent-minded consideration, I decided to follow the guide of the U.S. Census Bureau.

https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/maps/reference/us_regdiv.pdf

As the map shows, the Census Bureau considers Oklahoma part of the South, includes 12 other states within the "Midwest," then divides that region in "West North Central" and "East North Central."  This article features five of those states:  Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin and Illinois -- three in the west and two in the east. If you want a discussion of Oklahoma, go to https://www.waltersrail.com/2021/02/home-sweet-oklahoma.html.

Although the Census Bureau groups these 12 states together, their differences are profound.  Southwestern Missouri is as different from Northern Wisconsin as the bass fishermen on Table Rock Lake are from the ice fishermen on Lake Winnebago.  The Pine Ridge of western Nebraska is nothing like the board-flat farmland of central Illinois.

What follows is a trip across a significant portion of America, a collage, that tries to reflect what one man has seen.

Kansas

"The beautiful thing about Kansas is that it holds you to the ground." -- Marlon Brando

"In Kansas, we're just a bunch of folks trying to get along." -- Mark Twain

"When I was a small boy in Kansas, a friend and I went fishing. I told him I wanted to be a real Major League baseball player, like Honus Wagner. My friend said that he'd like to be President of the United States. Neither of us got our wish." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

Westbound Rock Island merchandise freight west of Lawrence, Kansas.  The thunderstorm in the background had rolled through in about ten minutes.  The sun came back out just as quickly.  In less than 10 years, the Rock Island would be shut down.

Loaded coal approaching Jeffrey Energy Center on Aiken Hill.  In those days (1980's) coal trains were as frequent on the UP line to Kansas City as Armadillos in your author's backyard.

Switching --  when Emporia, Kansas, was still a division point on the Santa Fe.  Emporia is a lovely county seat on the edge of the Flint Hills.

Eastbound Southwest Limited chasing the rising sun at Eudora, Kansas, on the old AT&SF line from Topeka to Kansas City.

Westbound manifest has departed Argentine Yard.  The Warbonnet era was short but spectacular.

Street running in Ottawa, Kansas, on the  AT&SF line to Tulsa (long abandoned).  The train is preparing to cross the old Missouri Pacific line to Pueblo, also long abandoned.  The old MP line also did some street running in Ottawa.

Matfield Green, Kansas, in the beautiful Flint Hills, one of your author's favorite locations to photograph trains.

Ellinor, Kansas, at sundown, where the original AT&SF mainline to Raton Pass separates from the Belen Cut-off through Curtis Hill and Abo Canyon. 

Westbound U50C approaching Lawrence, Kansas.  Those engines leaked oil spectacularly and vanished almost as quickly as floppy discs and MS DOS.

Stacks racing to Topeka, Kansas, after the double track line to Kansas City was completely converted to Centralized Traffic Control. 

Nebraska

"Mothers are the only race of people that speak the same tongue. A mother in Manchuria could converse with a mother in Nebraska and never miss a word." -- Will Rogers

"The people of Nebraska are for free silver and I am for free silver. I will look up the arguments later." -- William Jennings Bryan  

"The only thing very noticeable about Nebraska was that it was still, all day long, Nebraska." -- Willa Cather

Eastbound stacks in the Nebraska Sandhills.  These stabilized sand dunes are among the most amazing formations in North America.

 

Sandhills of Nebraska.  The dunes sit directly above the Ogallala Aquifer, where the ground water sometimes reaches the surface. 

Crawford Hill, Nebraska.  The Pine Ridge is another fascinating geologic formation crossed by the same railroad that runs through the Sand Hills.

Crawford Hill, Nebraska.  This eastbound coal load is climbing the Pine Ridge at the beginning of a huge horseshoe curve.

Crawford Hill, Nebraska.  Two Burlington Northern Office Cars bring up the rear of an eastbound stack train.

Westbound approaching Ogallala, Nebraska, in the valley of the North Platte River.

Somewhere on the Nebraska High Plains.  This manifest was over 10,000 feet long.

Eastbound grain approaching the huge classification yard at North Platte, Nebraska.

Grand Island, Nebraska, where the Union Pacific mainline crosses under BN's (now BNSF's) major coal line west.

Platte River, Nebraska.  This loaded coal train is headed east to Kansas City.

McConaughy Lake, Nebraska, on the Union Pacific's line to the coal fields of the Powder River Basin. .

Missouri

"In Missouri, where I come from, we don't talk about what we do - we just do it."  -- Brad Pitt

"I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known." -- Abraham Lincoln

"I never, in all my life, had anything whatever to do with robbing any bank in the state of Missouri." -- Cole Younger

Westbound stacks along the Missouri River, approaching Jefferson City, Missouri, on one of the most beautiful lines in the state -- also one of the most difficult to photograph.

Amtrak along the Missouri River, approaching Washington, Missouri.

Northbound empty coal train along the "K" line, approaching Hannibal, Missouri.  The Mississippi River had been flooding for over a month, but the waters were finally starting to recede.

Gateway Western 3020 West is crossing the Mississippi River at Louisiana, Missouri.  Dale Jacobson and your author chased this train west from East St. Louis.  Although its life was short, the Gateway Western was a fun railroad.

Coal load at Hannibal, Missouri, during Mississippi River flood.  The power of this river in flood stage is incredible.

Kirkwood, Missouri.  This UP steam special was running without diesel back-up and shook the ground.

Springfield, Missouri -- in the days when you could walk into the yard without concern..

St. Louis beneath the King Bridge, when the domed stadium in the right was named after TWA.

The location of this image does not need identification.

Same.

Wisconsin

"I love Wisconsin. It's a great place." -- Donald Trump

"Washington, DC is to lying what Wisconsin is to cheese." -- Dennis Miller

"It is a well-documented fact that guys will not ask for directions. This is a biological thing. This is why it takes several million sperm cells... to locate a female egg, despite the fact that the egg is, relative to them, the size of Wisconsin." -- Dave Barry

Soo Line north of Fond du Lac.  To the right are the semaphore signals for the parallel Chicago and Northwestern. 

Burlington Northern along the Mississippi River south of La Crosse.  In those days, this portion of the right-of-way was kept clear of foliage.  It has been overgrown with trees for years.

South of Prairie du Chien.  The Mississippi River is in the background.  This is a small pond north of the Wisconsin River.

Soo Line approaching Oshkosh, where the railroad did some modest street running..

BNSF along the Mississippi River.  The line south of La Crosse runs along the river bank but is mostly overgrown with trees.

BNSF stacks at Glen Haven, Wisconsin, a tiny village mostly isolated from the modern world.

BNSF running through a golf course in La Crosse.  This image was taken from a city park on the bluffs overlooking the town.

Soo Line near Stephens Point, Wisconsin on a clear and frigid January afternoon..

Northbound BNSF crossing the Wisconsin River, where it flows into the mighty Mississippi.  The image was taken from Pike's Peak State Park on the Iowa side of the big river. 

Illinois

"Illinois surpasses every other spot of equal extent upon the face of the globe in fertility of soil and in the proportionable amount of the same which is sufficiently level for actual cultivation." -- Abraham Lincoln

 

"I am a HAL Nine Thousand computer Production Number 3. I became operational at the HAL Plant in Urbana, Illinois, on January 12, 1997." --  Arthur C. Clarke

 

"If I'd gotten the job I wanted at Montgomery Ward, I suppose I would never have left Illinois." -- Ronald Reagan

Norfolk Southern eastbound to Centralia on the line that runs out of East St. Louis -- on a clear but cold winter's day.

Westbound steam excursion on the Norfolk Southern line to East St. Louis.  This restored Frisco engine (without diesel back-up) ran at track speed without struggle.

An Alton and Southern transfer run north of East St. Louis, with matched pair 2000 and 2001.

Southbound Union Pacific on the Alton and Southern, passing northbound CSX.

Terminal Rail Road Association along the flood wall in East St. Louis, with the King Bridge and Gateway Arch in the background.  Without the flood wall, the communities across the river from St. Louis would not exist.

Illinois Central leaving East St. Louis.  This line climbs out of the river valley in parallel to the Norfolk Southern.

Gateway Western in East St. Louis

Union Pacific along the Mississippi River.  When this image was taken (1994), the second track was out of service.

In the bottoms south of Dupo.  In places, the limestone cliffs are almost 300 feet tall.

Same -- on a day too cold to be taking photographs..

So there you have it -- five states in the Midwest, all different, all beautiful, all worthy of your time and interest.  I have images from other Midwestern states.  Maybe, in time, I'll write about them.

To see my other posts, go to waltersrail.com.

To see my photographs on Flickr, go to https://www.flickr.com/photos/jpwalters/.