I grew up in the small central Texas town of Oglesby during the 50-60s. We moved into town from the country in 1952. At that time the Cotton Belt line ran from Waco through town and on to Gatesville and Hamilton. I understand that the Cotton Belt was totally dieselized by 1953, but I seem to recall seeing a few steamers coming through town when I was very young. Am I mistaken in this belief or were steamers still running in that area then? Thanks, Michael
Howdy Michael. I grew up in Waco during those years and remember that the Cotton Belt went IC pretty early on. As a kid in the 50's, I remember hearing the old KATY Northerns blasting through town late at night with long freights but don't recall seeing any Cotton Belt steam. My grandfather and I watched the Cotton Belt station being razed and we made off with a couple of old spitoons (nasty ones) and a conductors' stool. This was probably in the early 50's. In those times, we visited the KATY shops in Belmead and by that time, there weren't any old steamers on the property. You might contact the Cotton Belt Historical Society, I am sure they have the info you want. Good luck and let us know what you find out. Woodie
Woodie, I worked for the City of Waco for 24 years. The last 7 of those I worked as an industrial environmental inspector. The train yard in Bellmead was one of the places I often visited. The enormous shop building was still standing up until the year before I retired. It was then razed. I would have loved to have gone inside when it was in full operation. Michael
Michael, I was very fortunate to be able to watch "goings on" in the shop as a young kid (with dad or granddaddy) and later as a teen in the 50's through the 60's. I brought my wife to Waco in the late 60's to "see the sights", and when we went to the Katy shops, it was off limits since it was then being used to make munitions (shell casings) for the Vietnam war. When I was younger, we got to watch as a pair of diesel (?) wheels were being turned down on a monster lathe. The metal curled off the wheel in a rainbow of blues and the workman warned us to not touch it...not because it was hot but it was razor sharp! In those days, there were no OHSA guys lurking, no idiot "railfans" standing on top of the rails, and everyone we met was nice. My dad managed an old hotel on 3rd street just off the Katy main and he knew some of the engineers. I got to ride in the cab of a Katy diesel switcher at the shops and even got to operate the throttle a bit. Those days are certainly long gone! Such memories. Woodie
Woodie, My Grandson and I went out to the Bellmead yard last Saturday just to have a look-see. The only way into the yard now is off Katy Lane as the front entrance road has been taken up. The re-fueling station is gone with only the diesel storage tank still in place. Of course the enormous shop building is long gone with only a pile of brick remaining where one of the sunken tracks was filled in. Michael
