MKT Ghosts

I am old enough to remember the Katy runs thru St. Charles, and into West Alton MO, can remember visiting friends at Pilot Grove with MKT unit trains gliding by thru the hills headed on to Boonville. Was out walking the KATY Trail the other day, ghosts abound, a howl from a stray breeze sounding as a distant horn and the distant sound of the UP on the other side of the river echoing off the bluffs reminded me of the days when the Katy was still operating. Can still remember an old GP darting side to side on track that needed Gandy Dancers to bring it back true. Still remember working in Ft. Scott KS with a KATY line thru the heart of town, a stray train rolling thru at night and a few odd locals during the day. Makes me ill seeing lines decay then disappear and the rails just getting ripped up. Most of the old wooden trestles are rotted so far as to need replacement with modern steel 'Walk' bridges' the old iron work bridges in such disrepair as to be ghastly.

I have gotten old and sentimental.

 

Interesting posts. It's been 40 years since I last heard a C&NW F miles away accelerating a commuter train, but I can still recall every nuance. I even remember how the Engineer would briefly close the throttle as his unit approached the EJ&E diamond and I'd hear the unit's wheels rapidly clump over the J's rails and when the unit was clear, he'd again open the throttle and the 567 would rev up.

(This action puzzled me for many years until I read an F-7 Oeprator's Manual and found that the throttle setting needed to be reduced when crossing tracks to reduce the risk of motor arcing.)

 

Grew up in the town of East Alton IL, lived a mile from the Western Cartridge Co(Olin), were so many nearby rail systems, CB&Q, NYC, ICG, Wabash and others all gone now. Slept under a window fan breeze as a kid, where heard the trains all night, saw the action most days, Olin, thru traffic, the Refineries at Wood River. Loved going to Alton down by Owens Illinois Glass to Blocks Drive In watching yard switches then on to the Locks by the old 367 Bridge and watching the CB&Q rotating bridge swing to allow barge traffic thru. Time has sure changed, CB&Q from Litchfield to Alton & Old Monroe to Mexico MO all gone, the bridge gone, MKT, the yard at E.A. serving Olin was a mix of CB&Q and ICG, the yards at Wood River NYC and others. The Rock, SP, MoPac, so many locally recognized all gone down to two, BNSF and UP. A few little lines the Midland, TRRA are still clinging to life but barely.

In St. Charles MO as a kid got to tour the ACF (originally Pullman) shops while still there, the test building where they sent gondolas or tanks to their end in crash testing, the tracks were Katy, there was a seldom used but still used interconnect Wabash to Katy across third street so the ACF company could receive cars from there as well, all that is also gone now.

 

Upon reading about your memories of East Alton, IL and the Western Cartridge plant there, I remembered that I have an old cartridge box from many years ago, last used when my late Dad and I went to the range and sure enough, the back of the box reads Western Cartridge Co., East Alton, IL. Neat memories from your past and a treasured keepsake from mine.

 

Was cool but not recognized as a kid, the old plant was steam powered, had a whistle system on the roof, a fire or incident in one of the buildings would have a corresponding building number and code for the problem sent out on them. Can Still here those whistles in my sleep, the old plant is coming back to life but nowhere near to where it once was. Super X shotgun shells are Western Cartridge too. Our home was second from Edwardsville Rd, on Broadway, seems forever ago now. The Plant is known as Olin Matheson Cartridge Works these days Or just Olin.

 

One of my more Prominent memories was as a child myself and my best buddy would steal down to the old Vanpreter Park and scale the embankment to the E.A. switchyard. Busy and dangerous but a favored play spot. I climbed at 5 into a open boxcar at midday, the car got a bump and I tried to hide in a corner. The yard man probably a brake or switchman peered in and then set to run my best friend off. The car began to move, I could see a little out the door and knew we crossed Edwardsville road. Soon we were in Wood River yard and the car dropped, was not long and another engine bumped the car and we moved back toward EA only to switch and I knew was to the end of the Earth. We eventually got to another yard, was the CB&Q yard at Alton I was crying my eyes out by then and another yard man found my sniveling little butt. I told him my name and my address and My Mom's cousins name who ran the EA station and yard. A few radio calls and I heard Duane T. talking to the men looking over me. I got to sit in a real Caboose, had a half a ham sandwich and a Coke. They stuck me in the engine that picked me up at Wood River, we went back there just as the EA switcher arrived. I got to ride in that cab too!!

Arrived at EA station house, Duane T beat my little butt, told me I could have been dead, scared hell out of everybody. Grandma came and picked me up where she too whipped my butt. Got home where Mom came in KNEW what had gone on SHE whipped my butt yet NOBODY told my Dad. Next day I will give you three guesses where I was at.

BTW I AM the Middle Child!!

 

Interesting! I have an old box of those too. My Dad must have kept the plant's order books filled.

 

Old paper shells are OLD. These probably will not fire even if you would want to.

 

Yep. I remember seeing those when I was very small, maybe 5yo. That was almost 60 years ago. By the time I started hunting, they were plastic.

 

You're right. Sometime back, I found that they had swelled so much that they wouldn't even chamber. I'm kinda wondering what to do with them, wanting to dispose of them safely. People have told me that "they're valuable", but I probably can't ship them or put them on eBay. I might stop by the local gun shop and see what they think.

 

Swollen is time to destroy. Safest and you can laugh but drop them in a brush pile fire, will hear the cough and they are done.

 

Was thinking on the OP the other day, out walking on the KATY again. So many rail lines are gone now, at least a third of trackage in MO is pulled and gone forever maybe as much as half if include many older retirements. Sad for our rail system that so many nations used as guideline to construct their own that are currently managing much better. The Rock Trail out of KC is supposedly already up, unknown as to usage and is attached at the hip to the KATY at Clinton.

Our Grand Niece lives in Moscow Mills MO, her home subdivision sits alongside the old CB&Q ROW thru there, is a tunnel under US 61 not a half mile from her house, decrepit but still there.

 

Stopped at two gun shops and both said that these old rounds are worthless and should not be used because of the potential of misfires causing personal injury or damage to the gun. One shop owner said that I could take them to the police department or he'd take the rounds for reloaders who might be interested in them. So, problem solved. The boxes themselves are cool though and I'll probably keep a few of them.

 

Safest way to destroy OLD shotgun rounds is deep fires, toss the cartridges in a Deep coals brushpile fire, without a chamber the rounds cook off and just expel the projectile load a few inches. Done this for seemingly forever. Buddy of mine is gunsmith, does the same with junk rifle and pistol rounds(corroded or ancient).

 

I still vividly remember the sound of the Baldwin S-12 switcher(s) over in the Milwaukee Road yard here in Austin in the sixties. The yard was about 1/2 - 3/4 mile away and I would lay in bed on summer nights with the window open, listening to them switch.

The S-12 had a turbo charger and whistled as it revved up. You could tell by the sound if it was revving or just coasting along the track. Then came the clank as they coupled to cars. Sometimes it was more of a BANG! I fell asleep many times listening to it.

I also used to ride my bike up onto the overhead pedestrian bridge and watch them switch during the day. When they had a train made up and were ready to leave, I would hurry up and ride my bike to either the north or south end grade crossing in time to see the train leave town. Almost always F units. Sometimes Baby Trainmasters or SD's.

The four or five SW1's were also often there and were used on the Smoky Valley Line from Austin to the very southeastern reaches of Minnesota and to LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Very light rail. Many years later, when I was out on the road for work, I found out why it was called the Smoky Valley line. Almost constant fog on parts of it. Alas, most of the track was gone by that time but you could still see where the right-of-way was.

The Baldwins switched the Austin yard for many, many years but the turbo chargers were removed toward the end so they didn't whistle anymore.;

Doug

 

Was a Baldwin S12 in the East Alton Switchyard. still remember that sound as the old black monster roared to pull a small consist. Later was replaced with a EMD thumping SW?7?

 

I only remember the whistling so it must have just been the standard issue turbo charged version



Doug

 

I ended up taking these and many more corroded rifle and pistol rounds I found to a local gun shop for disposal. The shop owner was very helpful and his suggestion to sell the paper boxes on eBay earned me $40.