Rail history: From heroes to hobos

The legend of Kate Shelley begins on the banks of Honey Creek near the small town of Moingona, Iowa. Late on the night of July 6, 1881, during a violent thunderstorm, Shelley, 15, walked and crawled a mile to warn railroad officials that a bridge had gone down, taking with it the eastbound No. 11 train and its crew.

Knowing that another train was scheduled to come through at midnight, Shelley set out to warn station officials in Moingona. As she approached the Des Moines River, which years earlier had claimed her older brother, the wind extinguished the flame of her lantern. She got down on her hands and knees and in wind, rain and darkness made her way across the bridge.

The ties of the bridge were “a full pace apart and were studded with spikes to discourage travelers crossing the bridge. To cross even in daylight was courting disaster,” according to an account in a 1957 edition of Trains magazine. The second train had already stopped because of the storm, but Shelley led rescuers to Honey Creek, where two men were saved and two men died. News of Shelley’s heroic actions traveled quickly, thrusting her into headlines around the country.

Now her story is part of a one-woman play to be performed this weekend at Fullerton Railroad Days, a two-day family-oriented celebration with about 90 organizations participating. Offerings include train exhibits, vintage railway cars, models and a modern freight locomotive. The event marks the city’s historical connection to the railroad.

Sheri Moses of the Chatsworth-based International Society for the Preservation of Women in Railroading will perform a play that tells the story of Shelley and other women who played important roles in the history of railroads. The society was founded in 1999 by Moses and Danette Linderman, both of whom have backgrounds in acting and writing.

“The biggest impact of women was during wartime when all the men went off to fight,” Moses says. “The women kept the railroads running. They did everything from making sure the trains worked to working as engineers, telegraph operators, everything.”

Moses and Linderman have collected information about many of them, from the Harvey Girls -- more than 100,000 women who worked in the Fred Harvey restaurants and hotels along the Santa Fe rail line -- to hobos and bootleggers.

But Shelley is the most famous. In Boone County, where she lived, a museum is named after her. The Kate Shelley High Bridge, built in 1901, remains in operation. The lantern she used the night of her deed is exhibited at the Iowa State Historical Museum in Des Moines.

Many forms of railroad memorabilia will be exhibited at the Fullerton event, which last year drew 35,000 people. It is sponsored by the city of Fullerton and the Fullerton Railway Plaza Assn. Inc., formed to support the development of a railroad heritage museum.

Other exhibits will be a railroad layout made of Lego products, models including one-eighth-scale working steam and diesel trains, garden railways and a Santa Fe diesel locomotive, as well as high-tech locomotive controls and a simulator used to train engineers.

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Fullerton Railroad Days

Where: Fullerton Train Station, 124 E. Santa Fe Ave.

When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Cost: Free

Info: (714) 278-0648 or www.trainweb.com