The Belle of Corder, Missouri

While in Kansas City prior to heading down to the A&M, we received information that the Kansas City Southern business train was going to make a trip over the former Gateway Western (ex-Gulf, Mobile & Ohio) line between KC and Corder, Mo., on Friday of that week.

There is a new grain facility in Corder that the brass was going to see. Complete with a loop track, it’s a sizable place.

We were hoping it would be a morning trip, but as it turned out the train was going to depart KC at 230 p.m.

The tough part would be finding a place to catch an eastbound in the afternoon. We picked a spot in Independence, Mo., and waited.

The nose light wasn’t going to be great, but it was the best we could find. Once we photographed the train, it was off to Corder since we had to head east anyway.

We caught up with it in Corder, shot a going away photo of the business car, then headed for the new facility located just outside of town.

The train pulled through the unloading area and stopped just clear of it so the passengers could get off and tour the facility.

That gave me a chance to walk along the edge of the woods and photograph the nice looking A-B-A F units on the loop track.

The crew cut away, advanced the marker and then ran around the loop with the power to the other end of the train.

I’m guessing that very few passenger trains have ran around grain company loop tracks, so it was kind of neat to get the entire train below the silos. The train was going to be there until dark, so we departed and moved on east.

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee

 

 

 

Tags: Kansas City Southern, Kansas City Southern business train