Rails to the Osage

The Story of the Warsaw Branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad

This is a well-written account of a colorful 42-mile branch line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad that ran between Sedalia and Warsaw in west central Missouri from 1880 to 1946. It originally operated as a narrow gauge line for 22 years before being converted to standard gauge. Over the years, the line hauled a mixture of agricultural and mining products, and had many interesting incidents in the course of its freight and passenger operations which the author recounts. Following a near-tragic attempt to dieselize it, the Warsaw branch became one of the last bastions of service for some of the Missouri Pacific's oldest and smallest steam locomotives. An extensive appendix includes details on motive power, rolling stock, stations, structures, wrecks, visible remains and how one can model the Warsaw branch.

This book was made available to South Platte Press for distribution. It contains 105 B&W illustrations, including three maps.

ISBN: 978-1-61584-215-5