When trains had the right of way on the Cinder Path

Hikers and bikers have the right of way these days on the Cinder Path --- a 13-mile recreational trail that connects Chariton and Humeston, passing through Derby as it follows the the former path of what began during 1872 as the Southern Branch of the C.B. & Q. Railroad. 

Passengers who boarded a southbound at the depot in Chariton back in the day would have ended up in St. Joseph, Missouri, unless their destination was any among dozens of smaller towns between.

This image of a train on that line --- somewhere between Chariton and Derby --- dates from 1910 and is taken from a postcard donated recently by Miriam Hibbs to the Lucas County Historical Society. The card, dated Aug. 13, 1910, was addressed to her father, Albert Westling, and was signed by Oscar Gustafson.

Albert was a 38-year veteran of the U.S. Postal Service --- working as a railway mail clerk on trains like this one.

The Southern Branch became largely redundant as time passed and in 1974, what then was the Burlington Northern agreed to sell the right of way through Lucas and into Wayne counties as the first "Rails to Trails" experiment in the state.