PITTSBURG, Kan. —
In a procession that had elements of a parade, Tilton & Sons House Moving of Carthage, Mo., on Wednesday moved the 20-ton tender box of Kansas City Southern Steam Engine 1023 from Pittsburg’s Schlanger Park to its new home in Carona.
There, the engine and tender box will be restored and protected by Heart of the Heartlands, a nonprofit organization that also oversees a museum and historic depots in Carona.
Beginning promptly at 9 a.m., the move required a guided escort by city and county law enforcement. The procession made its way to U.S. Highway 69, then south to U.S. Highway 400 and on to Carona, with cars pulling over and spectators showing up to watch the progress and take photographs.
Margaret Beasley was one of several who showed up at Schlanger Park, where the train has been on display since 1955, to view the start of the move.
“I brought my grandson, Alex Beasley, who is 3, because he loves trains,” she said. “He goes by here a few days a week on his way back and forth to preschool, and always sees it, and he has ridden a train at Carona.”
Don and Virginia Rigensberg, lifelong Pittsburg residents, also showed up to watch the tender box pull out.
“It’s very sad,” she said. “I live across town on Fourth Street, but I grew up nearby here, and I remember when they brought the train in.
“When my grandchildren came here for the first time from Germany, they played on the train. It has memories.”
James Conrad, who lives about a mile away on Free Kings Highway, said his father, Frank Conrad, worked for Kansas City Southern for 45 years.
He watched the move with a friend, Paul Troop.
“I’m sorry to see it go, in one way, but I think they will fix it up, and I’m glad it will be taken care of,” Conrad said.
Said Troop, who lives in Frontenac: “I thought it would be exciting to see the move. Trains make you feel like a kid again. I definitely will go out to Carona to see it all set up.”
Wednesday’s trip was about 20 miles and took about an hour.
Officials with Heart of the Heartlands said the engine, which weighs 120 tons, requires a special trailer to be rigged for the move, which will take place in coming weeks.
On the move
IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK, Tilton & Sons House Moving of Carthage has moved a home signed by thousands of tornado relief volunteers in Joplin and the 20-ton tender box of a historic steam train in Pittsburg. A tender box is a car pulled behind an engine that is designed to hold coal and water for steam.
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