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| Chris Aldrighetti posted The world famous St. Louis-San Francisco Railway and Missouri Kansas & Texas Railroad crossing and switch tower/station, also known as the Columbus triple crossing. Built in 1902 it quickly gained recognition around the world. When built it was using 90 pound rail. As diesel engines came onto the scene in 1958 the rail was changed to 115 pound rail to handle the additional weight. The original crossing survived up until 1968 when it was replaced with an exact replica. The new replica crossing was in use until 1981, when it was replaced by the current two-way crossing. It was located approximately 150 feet northwest of the turn where N Railroad Avenue turns east and becomes E Buckeye Street in Columbus, Kansas. According to a March 14th issue of The Columbus Daily Advocate from 1902, the triple crossing was one of six tri-crossings in the United States. The Columbus triple crossing being the only one in the state, or west of the Mississippi River. Contradictory to the newspaper article, the historical marker erected by the Columbus Lions Club located outside of the Columbus Museum and Genealogy Library states: "The crossing, formerly located in the northern part of Columbus, was donated to the City of Columbus by the Burlington Northern Railroad. At the time, the switch was constructed, it was one of the three built; one in Hamburg, Germany, destroyed during the war, and one in Pennsylvania which was removed within a short time. The crossing before you is the only one remaining." |
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| Chris commented on his post Tony, same location in 1968. |
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| Chris Aldrighetti posted another image with the same comment. |
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| One of four images shared by Richard Crabtree The famous triple crossing & interlocking plant in Columbus Ks 1910s |
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| Raymond Storey posted Jim Kelling shared |
John W Chamberlain Triple Diamond takes up way less land and is easy control. 1 interlocking instead of 3.
Patrick J Laronde I think there would have been more cross ties when the thing was in service.
Bucky Blankenship Looks like a nightmare for pulling tamper Operator.
I've extracted a closeup and an overview from a topo map. The overview captures the railroad names and the closeup shows where the triple crossing was.
Before the railroad merger mania in the 1980s, each railroad would have its own tracks through town. There were three railroads with four routes through Columbus. (Frisco had two routes.) The Columbus Wye was the crossing of the Light Purple, Orange and Dark Green.
This extract shows why the Northeast Oklahoma went north into Kansas and through Columbus. Specifically, there was a lot of coal mining northwest of Columbus.
Patrick J Laronde I think there would have been more cross ties when the thing was in service.
Bucky Blankenship Looks like a nightmare for pulling tamper Operator.
I've extracted a closeup and an overview from a topo map. The overview captures the railroad names and the closeup shows where the triple crossing was.
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| 1958 Columbus Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
Before the railroad merger mania in the 1980s, each railroad would have its own tracks through town. There were three railroads with four routes through Columbus. (Frisco had two routes.) The Columbus Wye was the crossing of the Light Purple, Orange and Dark Green.
- Blue: Abandoned/Northeast Oklahoma
- Orange: BNSF/Frisco
- Dark Purple: SKOL/Frisco (SKOL = Southern Kansas & Oklahoma)
- Light Purple: BNSF(o/s)/Frisco (o/s means out-of-service) Actually, it is now more than o/s. The track has been removed.
- Light Green: BNSF/MKT (MKT = Missouri, Kansas & Texas)
- Dark Green: Abandoned/MKT
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| Satellite plus Paint |
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| 1959 Joplin Quadrangle @ 1:250,000 |
Update: I commented on a post. And another post.
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| Melvin Myers posted This rail was called a triple crossing it is located in Columbus ks. and used to have a sign telling about it but i guess it is long gone.. [It's a public group so I'm just going to recommend that you peruse the comments.] |
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