Railroad Park
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May 24, 2011: As of this evening, they are still planning on moving the remaining 3 rail cars on Wednesday, May 25th. They will be starting the trip at 9:00 and hope to arrive at The Station mid to late afternoon. The arrival could vary by several hours. We will keep you posted as to any changes.
May 14, 2011: The remaining cars are scheduled to move to The Station on Wednesday, May 25, 2011. All three cars will be moved the same day and arrival time will be late in the day.
April 20, 2011: Several members of the Topeka NRHS has been planning how the restoration of the Welda Depot will be done. There are many areas on the depot that will need to be replace and or repaired. Once it has reached the point where it can be painted, it will done in the colors of green, burgendy and white. The materials will need to be acquired as funds are available. We are submitting a grant request to NRHS to help with the costs. Right now we are making the necessary repairs to patch the roof to keep it from rain and high winds and also securing the windows and doors for security purposes
February 6: The weather had delayed the moving of the remaining 3 rail cars. We are now estimating the move to take place in late February. We will keep you posted as it gets closer to the move date.
December 5: The depot has been placed onto the foundation. It was able to do a quick walkthrough and it was such a great feeling. It was exciting to visualize how it will look in the future. It was moved inch by inch and finally made it on the foundation. The caboose has been put on the north track. It still has some work to get done before it is on both sets of trucks. The next car to be delivered will be the refrigerator car which will be place just east of the caboose.
November 20: Today was the day. The depot was moved and put in place ready to be on the foundation. They started about 9:00 with a crew of 9. They worked until dark Saturday night to get it in place. On Sunday, they will jack up the depot in place it, remove the i-beams from the truck and pull the truck bed out. Then they will lower the depot onto the foundation and anchor it. They will then work on lifting the caboose and placing it on the wheels on the north track just east of the depot. They goal is to have the depot and caboose in place by the end of the day Sunday. This next week they will begin preparing the remaining 3 railcars, to bring to the park. This will involved getting permits and approval again. This will take approximately 2-3 weeks for all approvals. We will keep you posted as we have been.
November 11: Today the Welda Depot and Caboose are on the property at The Great Overland Station. It was a 9 1/2 hour trip from Globe, Kansas to The Station but it was well worth it. You are welcome to come and watch the progress putting the depot on the foundation and the caboose on the tracks. This will be over the next several weeks. Once done, the remaining three cars will be delivered.
November 10: Today is the day. The depot and caboose will be arriving late today. We will keep you posted when the depot arrives. At the request of the movers and utilities we are not announcing the route due to traffic control. Many lines will need to be taken down throughout the trip. Therefore the time of arrival is not determined. Watch this website and we will post the time when it gets closer to the time. I apologize for not giving more details, but for safety and time, this is the decision that has been made. They will be parked on the grounds. On November 11th, they will begin moving the depot to the foundation and placing the equipment. This will be done over the next few weeks. Once the depot and caboose is in place, the remaining cars will be moved.
November 6: We have been working diligently on getting all of the utility companies lined up and prepared to raise the power lines as we move the depot and caboose into Topeka here soon. It is planned for this week but the date and time is still pending until all signoffs are done. Due to the move being over a period of over 8 hours, we will not be announcing the specific details. This has been at the request of the movers and the City of Police Department as they don't want to have any delays due to spectators being in the trafficway or blocking roads. As it gets closer to the day, we will announce when the depot and caboose will be arriving at The Station. The parking lots and entrances into the Great Overland Station will be barricaded off to keep the road open for the wide load. Parking will only be available in the east parking lot and that entrance will be from Kansas Avenue.
September 21: We are getting closer to making the move with the depot and caboose. The two tracks on now in place and ready for the railcars. We are now waiting for the final approval of the several permits. These permits are coming from Shawnee County, Topeka, Douglas County, Osage County, Westar, AT&T, Cable and more. The reason for so many permits is due to crossing the county lines and the number of power and cable line that will need to be lifted in addition to the approval of the route. There is a tremendous amount of effort put into moving the depot and caboose. Once the arrive at the station, it will take about a week to get the depot and caboose in place. We will keep you posted as to when the trucks will be pulling into "The Station".
August 27: The 11 track panels for the south track are close to being ready to put into place. The north track is being prepared to pour the concrete walls and lay the ballist. Once that is completed the 7 north track panels will be repaired and put into place. Gordon street will be open the first of next week so that is great news for this move. Once the track panels are put down the depot will be move in along with the caboose. We will keep you posted as to when the depot and caboose will be arriving at the station.
August 14: The depot has been moved from the foundation and is ready to make the trip to "The Station" in Topeka. It appears that the move didn't have damage to the depot. It took approximately 3 hours to actually hook it up to the trucks and pull it away from the foundation and park it in preparation for the move. There was a lot of moving, turning, cranking it this way and that way to get it out of the space that it was in. With a lot of hard work and patience on all of the work crew, they got it done. It was great to see the crew work together and everyone was in position throughout the whole move. It was impressive. They separated the refrigerator car and caboose to prepare to loading the caboose. The caboose and depot will be moved at the same time due to the height. The coordination for this move is extremely time consuming and has to be perfect. The next update will show the status of Gordon street and their progress as it has to be be done and completed before the permits can be applied for. We are being told that Gordon will not be open now until mid-September so we are going to be delayed until then. The permit approval takes up to 3 weeks. We are hoping that this process is not delayed also. The September 1 date is moving out to the mid to end of September. The donors of the cars and depot understand the delays and are working with us closely. This is very exciting now, but will be more exciting in the near future when they start "rolling" into "The Station".
August 10: The depot has been raised and ready to be placed on the truck bed. Once the depot has been secured on the truck bed, they will start working on moving the caboose to a truck bed. Both the caboose and depot will be moved at the same time. The reason for moving both at the same time is due to the low signs that will need to be moved on the highways. Once the depot and caboose are put in place, they will prepare to move the superintenants car, baggage car, and refrigerator car. The extended delay in moving the depot and caboose is due to the timing of getting permits and also the closing of Gordon Street. Once Gordon is open, we will be able to apply for the moving permits. This is a minimum of 3 week process. Due to the timing issues the move of the depot will be mid-September barring any other surprises.
August 7: The ground preparation for the south track is close to being completed. The ballast was donated by BNSF and the track panels were donated by Union Pacific. Watch for details as to when the track panels will be brought over to The Station. We will also be posting ongoing details as to when the actual moving of the depot and caboose will happen. Question: How will the rail cars be transported to The Station?Answer: The first step will be to raise each car using a large crane and placing it on a truck bed. Then the trucks (wheels) will be picked up by a crane and placed on another truck. They will be transported down a selected route to The Station. Once they arrive at The Station, the trucks (wheels) will be placed on the tracks. Next the rail car will be picked up by a crane and placed on their set of trucks (wheels). Each rail car will be anchored to the tracks.August 4: The foundation has been poured and completed and is ready for the depot. The south track is being prepared for the train cars. Construction on the north track will begin in a couple of week. The depot is in the process of being raised and preparing to move on the truck. We are estimating the depot to be moved the middle to end of August. Watch for more details.Construction has begun on the new Railroad Park at the Great Overland Station. The ground is being dug and prepared for the foundation to be poured for the depot. The depot and caboose is tentatively schedule to be moved to the property at the end of July. We will keep you posted as to the date and time. It will be a great experience to see this coming through on HWY 24 and North Topeka Boulevard.We will continue to keep you posted as we move forward on the move of the depot and rail cars. The deadline to have all the cars moved is September 1, 2010.Photos of the hole being dug for the Welda Depot July 15, 2010
