I was wonderin if anybody could help me out, i knew there was santa fe spur that ran from strong city to cottonwood Falls, i know this spur lasting into the 80’s. i was wonderin if any of you could help me out wiht information about this line.
You seem to live in that area, so you probably know that the main east-west line ran through Strong City, and that Cottonwood Falls is about 2 miles south.
I am surprised that service on the spur lasted as late as the 1980s. Its only purpose was to connect with the Strong City depot, and of course there hasn’t been passenger service for decades. At one time, Cottonwood Falls had trolley service along that route.
William Least-Heat Moon’s book, PrairyErth, is all about Chase County and Cottonwood Falls, and ought to be available in any library; as I recall it discusses the railroad. If you are nearby, the Chase County Historical Society (in summer, open just on afternoons) is great. And Cottonwood Falls is a fun town to visit.
Larry
You should enjoy this map
www.bnsf.com/tools/reference/division_maps/div_ks.pdf
it blows up real good and you can creep around on it
Hey i live in Cottonwood Falls, the branch had a Grain elevator in Cottonwood Falls, it had grain cars over here and i have seen a pic in 1980 of some santa fe geeps coming over to switch.
You are lucky to live there, even though you are off the main line. I miss Chase County.
Since you asked, I kind of almost-remember that the spur was really built as a trolley or very short interurban line, but you would know.
the line that was a trolley was taken up around the 1920’s i do belive and had no conncections to the santa fe"s spur