DIVERSIONS, EXCURSIONS, LOCALS AND HELPERS The Topeka Sub BY CARL GRAVES/PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
“TO CONDUCTOR SPAULDING: Track War- rant eight-six-zero-dash-one-three to the BNSF fifty-two-forty-six West at Holliday… Proceed from CTC Holliday to CTC NR Junction on the main track… This warrant has two boxes, check one and two. Dispatcher is JLS.” So began the process of detouring a freight from the double-track BNSF Emporia Sub onto the roughly parallel single-track Topeka Sub on March 22, 2012.
This reroute, the first of many on that morning, is the latest aspect of a fascinating 111-mile stretch of north- east Kansas track. The original Santa Fe main line southwest from Kansas City, the Topeka Sub once hosted many
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RAILFAN.COM
passenger and freight trains. By the early 1970s it was a quiet branch with a pair of locals, an occasional coal train, and Amtrak’s Southwest Chief. The vast majority of traffic from Kansas City to California and Texas flowed by way of the Emporia Sub. During the 1990s manned helpers (an operation few would associate with Kansas) appeared on coal trains. More changes came in 2005 when the single track line began hosting occasional fleets of freights rerouted from the main line. Due to the multitude of di- versions, excursions, locals and helpers,
the Topeka Sub has gone through many phases and remains worthy of railfan attention.
Locals, Amtrak, and Coal
During my first two decades in Lawrence, Kan., I spent little time along the Topeka Sub because of the sparse traffic. In 1973 a railfan friend told me that the track hosted a Chicago- Los Angeles Amtrak train in the dark, an occasional coal train (also noctur- nal), and a local freight. Today I sus- pect more trains made an appearance on the Topeka Sub than he suggested, but at the time I wanted to get the most “bang for a buck” from my scarce free time, so I focused on the double track Union Pacific line that also ran through Lawrence, as well as the busy Santa Fe Emporia Sub 26 miles to the south at Ottawa.
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