The next year, the line would be continued to Carl Junction (north of Joplin).
By 1877, the railroad would see a name change to the Missouri & Western Railway. An extension of 27 miles would be constructed to Oswego, Kansas.
The Missouri & Western Railway would be deeded to the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway in 1879. Commonly known as the Frisco, the Frisco system covered much of states such as Missouri and Arkansas.
Another railroad, the St. Louis, Wichita & Western Railway would continue building west. Another segment opened to Severy, located in Greenwood County; by 1879.
The following year, the line would be opened to Wichita. By 1882, the route became a part of the Frisco as well.
While the line continued west, the Frisco was reorganized as the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad in 1896. By 1916, the route would again be renamed to the St. Louis-San Fransisco Railway.
While the line was critical to the Frisco, the railroad was merged into Burlington Northern in 1980. Because of this, the route became quite disused. Much of the Frisco trackage paralleled additional BN lines.
By 1996, the Burlington Northern merged with Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe to form BNSF Railway. Because the Frisco and Santa Fe routes often paralleled one another, a sale in 1997 sold a large segment from Columbus, Kansas to Severy to the Kansas Eastern Railroad.
In 2000, this segment was sold to the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad (SKOL).
Another segment was sold in 1998 to the Missouri & North Arkansas. The 6 mile line included trackage south of Carthage, Missouri.
Because of the parallel lines, major abandonments occurred in 2000; which included a segment from Wichita to Severy, and another in 2000 which removed the Carthage-Columbus segment from service.
In 2017, BNSF operates a segment from Pierce City to near Carthage as the Pierce City Industrial Lead. From that point to Carthage is operated by the MN&A.
In addition, SKOL operates a segment from Columbus to Fredonia. A portion of the line from Fredonia to Severy was abandoned in 2004. This segment is planned to become part of a rail to trail.
01/14/22
Read an article about the Schaub variant truss.
Another standardized but unique former Frisco truss crosses the Neosho River just to the east of Oswego.
Built in 1905 by King Bridge Company, the bridge features a large 6-panel pin connected Schaub variant Through Truss. This span was originally built with a deck girder span on the east and trestle approaches on the west.
However, the original west approaches were replaced in 1962 with I-Beam spans. Currently, the entire bridge sits on concrete substructures.
The Schaub variant truss is a take on the traditional Warren design, developed by Julius Schaub in 1901. While the original design featured a combination of pin and riveted connections, this bridge utilizes mostly pinned connections, with no crash bars on the end panels.
The Schaub design offered a savings of material and a reduction of traditional stresses in truss members. Schaub considered it to be an ideal link between long pin connected spans and short riveted spans.
The rail line this bridge carries is lightly used. It is hoped this unique bridge can be preserved for years to come.
The author has ranked this bridge as being moderately significant, due to the truss design.
The photo above is an overview. The bridge can be accessed from US-166, which the bridge sits parallel to.
| Upstream | Neosho Generating Plant Railroad Bridge |
| Downstream | Chetopa Rail Bridge |