How big is your museum? Today let’s visit a museum that is five miles long and 100 feet wide.
What in the world is that kind of museum? The answer is, it’s like a moving museum – a historic excursion train operating on railroad track in rural Kansas.
Ross Boelling is president and general manager of this remarkable train known as the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad. Thanks to railroad volunteer and retired K-State department head Steve Smethers for the following information.
The Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad operates on railroad track that had once belonged to the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad, which began service in 1886. The Rock Island operated successfully for many years. It was the lifeline of a burgeoning regional agribusiness industry, but after nearly a century, the company was in financial trouble.
The Rock Island took bankruptcy in 1980 and the MKT took title. In 1988, the Union Pacific acquired the lines, but company executives decided not to use the portion through Abilene.
Two local men decided to try to save the Rock Island legacy in Dickinson County. Joe Minnick and the late Fred Schmidt approached the Union Pacific and proposed to acquire the Rock Island rail between Abilene and Woodbine, Kansas.
