Kansas City - Day 2

Sunday, October 25

My second day in Kansas City allowed me the opportunity for some additional sightseeing, and catching some of the railroad stuff I had missed on Saturday. The skies were mostly cloudy, and darkened as the day progressed. By the time I headed back to Andy's house to meet him after work, rain had began to fall.

Holsum Food Products - Kansas City West Bottoms (viewed from underneath 12th Street Viaduct)

BNSF geeps under the 12th Street Viaduct - KC West Bottoms

Dumpster Diver - KC West Bottoms

I hadn't been over to the east side of town yet, so after a stop through the West Bottoms, I headed over toward Knoche Yard. A freshly painted Iowa Interstate GE had just left the paint shop at Mid-America Car, and awaited movement east. Meanwhile, an eastbound IC&E train was departing, so I drove out to Birmingham to set up for a photo.

Iowa Interstate 512, just out of the Mid-America Car paint shop.

Powered by SEVEN SD40-2s, an IC&E eastbound drags through Birmingham, MO.

Hobo markings under the Hwy 210 bridge - Birmingham, MO

UP eastbound and more fall color - Birmingham, MO

Back at Mid-America Car, I found a dozen stored locomotives, including several former C&NW C40-8s.

UP 9053 - stored at Mid-America Car.

When the rain moved in, I headed home.... it was time to meet Andy after work and watch some football. We enjoyed seeing the Cowboys smack the Falcons around, and then headed out to the local B-dubs for some dinner.

Monday morning dawned with sunny skies (wouldn't you know it) but it was time for me to head home. Vacation over, back to work, and over 500 miles of highway ahead of me...

Andy and his "Love Bunker". He had a lot of leaves to rake. Wish I could've stayed around to help, but I had to be getting on back to Texas...

So it has only taken 5 months to post everything, and now the KC trip report is complete. A little bit of closure: upon my return to Ft Worth, I called off my relationship with Miss C (trouble had been building for a while, and reached a breaking point during and immediately after my travels). I spent November and December enjoying the single life, began dating again in January, and have met a new special someone who I will be introducing soon. Life moves on...

Still have some loose ends to tie up... a Gourds show from December, Whiskey's movie reviews, Tim Barry in Deep Ellum, and my recently completed trip to New Mexico. Check back soon for some new stuff.

WSC

np: Hagfish - "Herve"

Kansas City - Day 1

Saturday, October 24

Kansas City is one of my favorite places to take photographs, and one of the few places outside of Texas or New Mexico that I'd consider moving to. I spent three months there in 1995 during my dispatcher training, and fell head-over-heels with the city and its dynamic railroad scene. I've been back a handful of times since -- a wedding here, a family weekend trip there -- but it had been about 7 years since my last visit.


A grab shot from the freeway of something I hadn't seen since Tuesday. (That would be the sun.) I'd have to work fast... clouds would be moving back into the area by early afternoon.


Andy was working 1st shift over the weekend, which would give me time to get out and shoot photos in the morning and early afternoon. We'd meet up later in the day for some train watching and Kansas City barbecue...

UP eastbound coal at Bonner Springs, KS.

I managed to hit most of my favorite KC spots during the day: Bonner Springs, the West Bottoms, Santa Fe Junction, KC Union Station. And what I didn't catch on Saturday, I'd see on Sunday...

Unmistakably KC: The red brick warehouses of the West Bottoms district dominate the background behind BNSF 9845, which has paused briefly to await clearance into Murray Yard.

More Bottoms - UP 7400 leads an eastbound.

I had lunch out in Lenexa, where I found a boxcar displaying this old Frisco logo...

After lunch, I headed to Santa Fe Junction, where I'd get my first look at the recently constructed "flyover" bridges. Built and placed in service within the past 5 years, the bridges allow through trains on the BNSF Transcon to avoid delay from cross traffic on the BNSF Fort Scott line and the UP. The railroad was getting its money's worth on Saturday as Z trains in opposite directions "flew over" three other trains on the lower levels.

Big-time action at Santa Fe Junction: five trains on three levels, and all were moving when I snapped this photo. Never seen anything like it!

Andy met me at Kansas City Union Station after work. He's not a foamer, but he patiently waited while I watched and photographed a few more trains before we headed out for some barbecue...

Foamer simulation - Andy at KC Union Station

A westbound UP train passes another of my favorite KC landmarks -- the Western Auto Building.

KCS 34 lurks in the shadows at KC Union Station.

On Sunday, I'd have time for more photography (under mostly cloudy skies) before meeting up with Andy after he finished work.

I had hoped to finish the KC trip reports BEFORE my next vacation started, but the clock has run out. I'm heading to New Mexico for a week with the kids while they're on Spring Break. So check back sometime after the 22nd for a Kansas City finale. By then, I'll have another week's worth of vacation photos and trip reports to share. So we'll see how much success I have at posting more timely blog reports after that. Until then, take care of yourselves... and each other.

WSC

np: David Grisman & Jerry Garcia - "Jack-a-roe"