The Midland Railway was a

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

operating 16 miles of line in Franklin County and Douglas County in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

between

Ottawa, Kansas Ottawa (pronounced ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Franklin County, Kansas, Franklin County, Kansas, United States. It is located on both banks of the Marais des Cygnes River near the center of Franklin County. As of the 2020 United ...

and

Baldwin City, Kansas Baldwin City is a city in Douglas County, Kansas, United States, about south of Lawrence. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 4,826. The city is home to Baker University, the state's oldest four-year university. Histor ...

. It was chartered in 1982 to find an abandoned

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line to operate. Midland purchased the line from Baldwin City to Ottawa from the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

("AT&SF") in 1987, and began running excursion trains on part of the line later that year. Total length of the line is 16 miles (17.7 km). Midland operated a demonstration historic railroad, and its mission was to "educate the public about the role railroading played, and continues to play, in the commercial, social, and cultural life of America's Heartland." Midland's base of operations was the depot built in 1906 by the AT&SF at 1515 High Street in Baldwin City. This building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places listings in Douglas County, Kansas __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Douglas County, Kansas. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Douglas County, Kan ...

in 1983. Midland had received two matching federal grants to rebuild track. Private grants were used to rebuild railroad equipment. Starting in 2004, excursion trains were run all the way from Baldwin City to Ottawa. The regular operating season ran from

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

(last Monday of May) to October 31 (

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

). Special events and fairs were held at various times through the year. Weekend

Boy Scout A Scout, Boy Scout, Girl Scout or, in some countries, a Pathfinder is a participant in the Scout Movement, usually aged 10–18 years, who engage in learning scoutcraft and outdoor and other special interest activities. Some Scout organizatio ...

camps were held in the spring and fall. Midland's Scout program was one of the few in the country to offer the Railroading merit badge.

Surface Transportation Board

A May 31, 2019 decision by the Surface Transportation Board stated:

Baldwin City & Southern Railroad

In 2019, the Midland Railway created a wholly-owned, for-profit subsidiary called the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad, but doing business as the Baldwin City & Southern Railroad (BC&SR). The original plan was for the BC&SR to take over all active railroad operations, while Midland would focus on public education and historic preservation. In November of 2019 the BC&SR was awarded a $750,000 Kansas Department of Commerce grant to help with operational costs to transition from the all-volunteer model under which Midland operated, to an employee-based model, with a grant requirement to have at least 22 employees. However, the BC&SR service was discontinued in March of 2020 following a rent dispute with the operator of Baldwin City’s historic train depot.

Midland Railroad

An entity called Midland Railroad LLC. filed notice with the Surface Transportation Board on September 15, 2022 that it was acquiring this rail line, and intended to replace the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad d/b/a the Baldwin City & Southern Railroad as the common carrier service provider over said line. However, this transaction was never completed.

Ottawa Northern Railroad

On March 9, 2023, the Ottawa Northern Railroad, a subsidiary of the

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The original Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At ...

, filed notice with the Surface Transportation Board that it was acquiring the line, and replacing the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad d/b/a the Baldwin City & Southern Railroad Company as the common carrier service provider on it. The notice indicated in part that there were currently no customers on the line, and accordingly, no shippers to notify. As of April, 2024, the Ottawa Northern Railroad indicates on its website that it completed the acquisition, and that plans are in the works to bring back the excursion trains.

Kansas Belle Dinner Train

The Kansas Belle Dinner Train, which also operated out of the Baldwin City depot, utilized Midland Railway’s track and locomotives but was separately owned. That train on March 14, 2020 also suspended services, and had not resumed them by April 2024. After waiting 4 years for operations to resume, the train set was sold in autumn of that year.

References

External links

* (archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Midland Railway Kansas Heritage railroads in Kansas Tourist attractions in Douglas County, Kansas Tourist attractions in Franklin County, Kansas