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Location: Iola, Kansas

The day has finally come, the Kansas Grain Belt is shutting down for the foreseeable future.  Soon the Great Plywood Glacier the railroad resides on will be no more.

The remaining freight cars in Iola Yard have been marshaled into one final train:

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The KGB’s two remaining steam locomotive have been pressed into this final duty.   The train will officially terminate in Santa Fe’s Argentine Yard in Kansas City, Kansas.

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A small crowd of employees have gathered to observe this melancholy event.  Some will move on to other railroads, while others will simply retire:

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Our photographer captures the train on its departure.  The brakeman salutes his friends and coworkers as the waycar passes:

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Soon all is silent.  The sound of the locomotives and clickity-clack of trucks on jointed rail fades from the ear as Kyle, one of the road’s longest serving employees, takes one last look before heading home:

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Rusty

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Images (10)
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  • LTOOI 032220  (2)
  • LTOOI 032220  (3)
  • LTOOI 032220  (4)
  • LTOOI 032220  (5)
  • LTOOI 032220  (6)
  • LTOOI 032220  (7)
  • LTOOI 032220  (8)
  • LTOOI 032220  (9)
  • LTOOI 032220  (10)
Original Post

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If  you are going to buy a new basement, you get to choose what and how big.   It should be a REQUIREMENT, that a suitable train space be provided.

When we were shopping for this house many  years ago, my wife had my requirements well memorized.   I was working kinda long, and she was checking things out and picking likely candidates.    One requirement was full basement and she had that writeen in stone.    Also no tri or bi levels since they only half basements if any.    This area has a lot of houses with half basements.    We stopped working with our first realtor because she kept taking her to tri-levels and houses with half basements.    She would pull up and tell my wife, "just look at it,  you will like it".    My wife finally refused to get out of the car unless it looked like what we wanted from the outside.    She told the realtor, you are wasting both our times with a lot of these.    we found a new realtor, that got it right off and found just what we wanted in a few weeks.   

One of the model RRs in this area has a wife who is a realtor, and she understands "model Railroad houses".    You need to find a good realter.

Rusty Traque posted:
Mark Boyce posted:

Will another railroad rise in the future?

I plan to, depends on the basement I buy.  Right now, I have a lot to do to prep my current digs for sale.

Rusty

I know the feeling.  We're looking for a place too, but with the virus around us, we've put that on hold for the duration.  My layout and all associated with my trains is all in a storage unit.  We have been prepping for months and that too is on hold.  Still have a lot to do, but frankly we just don't feel like it.  

Rusty, this send-off is so cool. It must be a time of mixed emotions as you look forward to a whole new project while you’re breaking this one down.  Question: are All of those ARTTISTA s-scale figures? Or did you source some of them from another producer? And are they s- or o-scale figures?

good luck with your house sale and search for a new home...

Last edited by CaseyKen
CaseyKen posted:

Rusty, this send-off is so cool. It must be a time of mixed emotions as you look forward to a whole new project while you’re breaking this one down.  Question: are All of those ARTTISTA s-scale figures? Or did you source some of them from another producer? And are they s- or o-scale figures?

good luck with your house sale and search for a new home...

Thanks.  While visions of a new railroad dance in my head, I'm considering bumping up my rather elastic time frame from the late 50's to around 1968-1972.  We'll see.  Way too early for any firm plans.

The figures are mostly ARTTISTA.  There's one or two that are by S Scaler Bill Lane (I think.)  They are S Scale.

Rusty

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