EMPORIA; ENGINE REPAIR FACILITIES Traditional Cache

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Flatland Reviewer: This cache page has been archived due to the lack of a timely resolution. If the owner would like to have it reinstated, please contact me through my profile within 90 days.

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Hidden : 12/8/2012
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

This cache is being placed to honor the Emporia Santa Fe Railroad Roundhouse which has been demolished yet remains in memories and a few photographs.

Emporia: Engine Facilities
 
this cache has been placed in Las Casitas City Park. Hours are 11PM till daylight, please respect the hours. The roundhouse location is currently a BNSF "maintenance headquarters". The roundhouse was located NE of GZ several hundred feet. It is only a shadow now. Please do not try to go the roundhouse actual location. Portions of the following information have been copied from the “Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society” web page. The Emporia “Roundhouse” no longer exists. Memories of the facility continue on in my mind and the remaining railroad professionals who have been around Emporia for some time. Emporia used to be a “Railroad Town”. I am the only male in my family who has never worked for the Santa Fe. There are many memories and tails connected with the RR life of long ago. I visited the roundhouse several times when young with my father or grandfather or other relatives and it was a truly astonishing place for a young person in that time. Everything was Large, Black, Smokey, Loud, Strange and very industrial – for the time. It was a very exciting place to find oneself as a small person.  
The 1928 roundhouse had 30 stalls covering 200 degrees and was one of the most modern on the system. It was of the same design as La Junta, CO, and Clovis, NM.

The Emporia turntable was a Santa Fe standard 120' through truss design. It was fabricated in 1926 and placed in 1927. It had a 500 ton center and 130# ring rail. It originally had a gasoline engine for propulsion but that was superseded in 1936 with a 20 HP electric motor (Stephen Priest). Detailed drawings, photos, and modeling tips appeared in Model Railroader, October, 1989. Although the Emporia roundhouse was relatively modern, the turntable was too short for the 2900 and 3776 class 4-8-4s as well as the 5011 class engines. They had to be taken to NR Jct., a mile east of the depot, and turned on the wye (Lloyd Stagner).
Stagner reports that passenger trains with steam power ran through Emporia during the transition period. "Freight power was a little different. Steam on freight trains still ran through Newton. By 1926, the 2-8-2s were the main road power and they ran from Argentine to Newton/Wellington/Ark City. By the 1950s, the 4-8-4s were running from Argentine to Waynoka. He says that Emporia had only one water crane on the freight mains and on the hot trains, power was changed (relayed) since it would take less time to do than water the engine, especially if there was more than one train needing water. The westbound hot trains that usually relayed power at Emporia were the 53, 59 & 99. The crew went on duty at the roundhouse and was on the lead ready to get on the train as soon as the inbound crew stopped and cut off their power. Since the way cars were being changed at the same time, that didn't hurt the train at all. Eastbound, most trains went into the yard at Emporia because of block swaps, set outs or pick ups. They would usually swap power just out of convenience."
"By the time the diesels were being used on freight trains, the westbound trains always ran through. Eastbound, as with steam, there were lots of consolidations of trains or block swaps so the power often was changed to accommodate what Argentine wanted for an outbound train. If the diesels had to go to the house at Argentine or the service facility to be fixed, they might be cut off a hotshot at Emporia and added to a Kansas City terminating train. [This practice still goes on today but usually further out like at Wellington, Amarillo, Clovis or Belen.] With assigned waycars being eliminated in 1966 or 1967, things changed and all the power was run through Emporia and most other terminals unless there was a need to cut a unit or relay power for some other reason. It was not usually for fuel or engine service."
 

Additional Hints ()

JNEAVAT-JNEAVAT-JNEAVAT guvf pnpur vf n Zbafgre... or fgrnygul naq cebprrq ng lbhe bja evfx....

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

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