The Junction City and Fort Kearney Railroad

The Junction City and Fort Kearney Railroad was created in 1871 as a Central Kansas Railway subsidiary. It ran northward from Junction City, KS northerly toward Clay Center, which opened in 1873. By 1878, it reached Concordia. (Right of way)

Image: "Railroad junction of the Kansas Pacific and Junction City and Fort Kearney Railways in Junction City, Kansas. Courtesy Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries, DeGolyer Library. Photo by Robert Benecke, 1873."

It, along with the Kansas Pacific, was merged into Union Pacific in 1899, making the line UP's Junction City Branch. For most of the right of way, especially north of Clay Center, it was adjacent to the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railroad.

The Belleville Branch would connect the line to Belleville, KS from a junction just east of Concordia.

North of Clay Center, the line was abandoned in 1933; with the aforementioned Belleville Branch ending service in 1934. South of Clay Center, the original alignment would end when damming of the Republican River occurred; creating Milford Lake and submerging the tracks.



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