Semaphore Surprise
Headed south on I-35, I got myself into a bit of a "situation" where I NEEDED to find the closest gas station, and not just the most convenient one. Bonus points for those that would allow for easy driving that wouldn't burn that much fuel, haha!
As such, I ended up routing myself towards the small northwestern Missouri town of Winston. Much to my surprise, as I found the gas station (#blessed), was the nicely-restored, and cared-for wooden Rock Island depot in town, although the tracks alongside it were long gone.
Winston was along a line that branched off of the KC-Des Moines mainline at Coburn Jct. (approx. 10 miles SW of Trenton, MO), and ran straight west to St. Joseph, MO, with spurs/further expansions to Atchison, and Topeka, KS. The town doesn't show up in my 1967 Official Guide, but it was between Gallatin and Weatherby as towns that DO rate a mention. As I recall, this was the Rock Island's original mainline into the area before Kansas City became the economic engine that it is, and the railroad had to regroup.
Semaphore Surprise
Headed south on I-35, I got myself into a bit of a "situation" where I NEEDED to find the closest gas station, and not just the most convenient one. Bonus points for those that would allow for easy driving that wouldn't burn that much fuel, haha!
As such, I ended up routing myself towards the small northwestern Missouri town of Winston. Much to my surprise, as I found the gas station (#blessed), was the nicely-restored, and cared-for wooden Rock Island depot in town, although the tracks alongside it were long gone.
Winston was along a line that branched off of the KC-Des Moines mainline at Coburn Jct. (approx. 10 miles SW of Trenton, MO), and ran straight west to St. Joseph, MO, with spurs/further expansions to Atchison, and Topeka, KS. The town doesn't show up in my 1967 Official Guide, but it was between Gallatin and Weatherby as towns that DO rate a mention. As I recall, this was the Rock Island's original mainline into the area before Kansas City became the economic engine that it is, and the railroad had to regroup.