In the report of the Railroad Commissioner for 1886 it is said that the main line of this railway
extended from Olathe, Kansas to Ash Grove, Missouri totaling 154.22 miles and that the branch from
Raymore Junction to Pleasant Hill totaled 8.41 miles.
From an article in the "Kansas City Star" on November 19, 1885:
"This line has been in operation but a few weeks."
From the Clinton (MO) "Democrat" of January 23, 1885 we find that Judge R.D. Hartwell was
attorney for the road, Clapp was chief engineer, Colt and Sons were the contractors, and the road was
to cost about $16,000 per mile.
The road was dubbed the "Leaky Roof" because on the line was the Dickey Clay Pipe Works at
Deepwater, Missouri. All cars on the FRISCO system with leaky roofs were shunted to the KCC&GS
line for clay pipe and tile loading as dripping water did no harm to clay products, but if any other
skipper wanted a car for other merchandise it would nearly always have a few leaks in the roof.
On March 8, 1901, under the "community of ownership" plan the FRISCO and the Kansas City, Fort
Scott and Memphis have united their interests. The FRISCO had one line from Kansas City to
Springfield (the former Kansas City, Osceola and Southern and Springfield and Northern lines, called
the Blair Line after John I. Blair of New Jersey, builder of the KCO&S and now nicknamed the
"High Line") and the KCFS&M had two lines between the same points. The FRISCO line paralleled
and intertwined with KCC&S, the one never being over ten or twelve miles from the other.
The FRISCO continued to operate their own road as usual (owned outright). They operated the
KCFS&M and the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham as "lease-hold estates", other lines were
operated as auxiliary companies except the KCC&S.
July 23, 1901 at a meeting of the stockholders of the KCC&S the board resigned and a new board was
elected. Those changes were made to completely divorce the company from KCFS&M, and from then
on the KCC&S was operated and carried in the FRISCO annual reports as a road operated in which
they had special interests.
They now had their line into Kansas City, so from the very beginning it seems as though they had
decided to rid themselves of one--the unlucky "Leaky Roof".
At a meeting of the board September 27, 1901 the line of the KCFS&M from Arcadia, Kansas to
Springfield, Missouri was sold to the KCC&S. The reason given was that it was part of the legal plan
connected with the consolidation of the FRISCO and the KCFS&M. The rest of the road was
purchased by the NEW Fort Scott and Memphis Railroad Co. (FRISCO). That was the reason given.
What the real reason was is not known. It was said that the KCC&S had funds that could be spent on
the Arcadia-Springfield line. Later the 85 miles of road was resold to the FRISCO.
Much of this was done before we had a POTENT Interstate Commerce Commission, and most of the
deal was in the State of Missouri--not interstate.
Early in the 1900's FRISCO abandoned 2.5 miles of Hi-Line track from Harlan Junction, Mo. through
Vista to Tracy Junction. It and the "Leaky Roof" ran side by side and only one was needed. Tracy Jct.
remained as the switch where trains entered and left two lines. Later the KCC&S from Lowry City to
Harlan Jct. was abandoned and taken up, and Harlan Junction became a whistling post. This line
included the KCC&S bridge over the Osage River at Osceola. It was said of this bridge, as of all
KCC&S bridges, that the stonework and masonry in the design and workmanship were not to be
excelled anywhere. The old piers are still standing about a half mile downstream from the present
FRISCO bridge at Osceola. There were only a few points on the parallel lines where both roads did not
at some time maintain stations.
In 1928 the FRISCO took deed to the property of the KCC&S, at the same time it took deed to the
KCES&M, and the roads became part of the FRISCO proper.
The Hi-Line, with Leaky Roof track from Deepwater to Lowry City and from Harlan Jct. to Tracy Jct.
was at some uncertain time officially named the Clinton Subdivision of the Eastern Division, and so
remains today. The Leaky Roof from Belton, Mo. to Clinton and from Tracy Jct. to Ash Grove were
called the Osceola Subdivision of the Eastern Division.
When the Cedar Jct.-Olathe segment was abandoned is uncertain, but it was probably in the early
1900's. About a mile of this line remains in Olathe as a connection between FRISCO and Santa Fe
mainlines.
The Interstate Commerce Commission in 1935 granted permission to tear up track from Stanley,
Kansas to Clinton, Missouri and from Tracy Junction to Phenix, Missouri. This work was delayed while
townspeople and other along the line protested, and the "Kansas City Star" published an article about
what a town does when the railroad leaves. The depression plus truck and automobile competition
spelled final doom for the homely but friendly little branch with its 56-pound rail and thrice-weekly
mixed train. Protests were to no avail for in 1936 abandonment was under way and track was removed
to Clinton from Stanley, Kansas. About a hundred yards of former KCC&S main track was left as a
industry spur in Harrisonville.
Actually the Clinton-Deepwater segment had been torn up previously at an uncertain time probably
about 1926, for in that year a three-mile stretch of track was built from Brownington on the Hi-Line
to Dejun (Deepwater Junction) on the Leaky Roof a half mile south of Deepwater. Deepwater was
retained at the north end of this spur because the town was a good shipping point. Even now a hundred
yards or so the Leaky Roof's original 56 lb. rail remains just north of the Deepwater station. The Hi
Line was also abandoned from Brownington to Lowry City, the 3-mile connection..(Cont. on nt. page-)