Kansas will soon have an official state heritage railroad and it’s in the historic city of Abilene.

A week ago, the Kansas Legislature passed HB2481, which, among other things, designated the Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad (A&SV) as the heritage railroad and also named the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 3415, a 4-6-2 Pacific-type engine as Kansas’ Official Steam Locomotive. The bill is awaiting Gov. Laura Kelly’s signature, which is expected to come soon.

Ross Boelling, president and general manager for A&SV, said this designation is an honor and speaks to the work that volunteers have put into making this heritage railroad a reality.

Our organization was founded three decades ago on the idea of preserving the legacy of railroads as builders of our state,” Boelling said. “It’s great to make our mission an official Kansas tradition. More importantly, this designation is a great recognition of our volunteers and the tens of thousands of hours they have dedicated to the A&SV.”

This new designation will help in various ways, including in grant writing as the railroad looks to raise funding for the 3415 locomotive, which went out of commission last year to undergo a Federal Railroad Administration mandatory overhaul.

Boelling said a new capital campaign for the overhaul is expected to be kicked off soon, and this new designation will be used to enhance this and other funding options.

Additionally, a new logo for the A&SV Railroad has been designed, incorporating the 3415 locomotive and the state designation.

Prepare for hummingbird season by planting bird-friendly plants and hanging hummingbird feeders in the landscape.

Warmer weather means flowers will soon bloom, but it is not only colorful plants and shrubs that will appear in the landscape. Hummingbirds are expected to arrive in Oklahoma at any time.

Hummingbirds are not only fun to watch, but they’re also great pollinators, said David Hillock, Oklahoma State University Extension consumer horticulturist.

“While there are several species of hummingbirds that find their way to the Great Plains every year, the ruby-throated hummingbird is the most common,” he said. “Maintaining a garden with native trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants will create a natural habitat the birds find attractive. They are especially fond of red tubular and trumpet-shaped flowers.”

Bird-friendly plants

Plants such as trumpet vine, trumpet honeysuckle, bee balm and the red cardinal flower are a few good choices. Planting nectar-rich flowers that bloom from spring through fall will help ensure the hummingbirds remain throughout the season. These fast flyers need a constant and diverse supply of flowers to feed on through the fall.

“Native plants not only provide nectar for the hummingbirds, but they also attract insects that are a crucial part of a hummingbird’s diet,” Hillock said. “In addition to plants, water and shelter are two key elements that are essential for the well-being of the hummingbirds. Also, avoid using insecticides in areas where the hummingbirds congregate.”

Those who may not have an outdoor space in which to plant a garden can still enjoy the presence of hummingbirds by hanging feeders, said Tim O’Connell, wildlife ecologist in OSU’s Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management.

Feeding hummingbirds

“Hummingbirds are migrating from the Yucatan Peninsula, and it takes them 18 hours to make it to the Gulf Coast,” O’Connell said. “They put down about 10 miles in from the coast and, amazingly, they can do this long journey. They don’t glide like other birds. They’re flapping the whole way here, and they’re exhausted. It’s an amazing physiological feat.”

To help replenish their energy and encourage them to hang around for the season, O’Connell suggests placing feeders strategically throughout the landscape.

“Hummingbirds are territorial birds. Even if putting out a feeder with multiple ports, you’ll likely have only one hummingbird at a time. As soon as one starts feeding, another will fly in and try to run off the other,” he said. “Bird enthusiasts should set up several single-port feeders and space them out in the landscape.”

O’Connell also suggests using a feeder that has a wide opening. This makes the feeder easier to fill, and more importantly, easier to clean. If reusing feeders from previous years, make sure they’re clean. Soak them in a bleach/water solution to eliminate any mold from all parts of the feeder. Rinse thoroughly and refill them.

It’s easy to make hummingbird nectar at home with a mixture of four parts water to one part sugar. Mix until the sugar is dissolved. Avoid adding red food coloring to the mixture. The red color of the feeder is enough to attract the hummingbirds. They don’t have an acute sense of smell and rely on eyesight to find food sources.

Extra nectar can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks, but the feeders need to be cleaned every few days, especially in the heat of the summer.

Hummingbirds are prone to injury due to collisions with windows. To protect the birds, streak the outside of windows with bar soap to break up the reflection. Learn more about the research OSU is conducting on bird/window collisions.

With warmer weather on the way, Hillock said families can get a lot of enjoyment from learning about the various birds in yards, gardens and green spaces.

“Check out a bird book from the library and spend time together as a family observing and learning about the various birds in your landscape,” he said.

OSU Extension offers additional information on attracting birds to the landscape.

Images of cowboys and gunslingers still resonate with the public, long after the Old West came to an end.

Tourism professionals for Wichita, Dodge City, Abilene and Hays announced an effort last week seeking to capitalize on that.

They said they were launching the “Gunsmoke Trail” to encourage tourists to take a road trip through those four cities, each of which was mentioned on the long-running, Emmy Award-winning TV western series “‘Gunsmoke.”

What was ‘Gunsmoke?’

Set in the 1870s in Dodge City, “Gunsmoke” aired for 20 seasons, from 1955 to 1975, on CBS-TV.

It focuses on Marshal Matt Dillon, played by James Arness, as he works to preserve law and order in the Old West.

“Gunsmoke” was the longest running prime-time live-action series on American TV until its record was broken in 2019 by “Law & Order: SVU.” It can be streamed on Paramount+.

“Gunsmoke” featured “iconic characters telling the story of frontier life in the Old West,” said a news release put out last week by Visit Wichita, which is teaming up to offer the trail with the convention and visitors bureaus of Abilene, Dodge City and Hays.

Trail provides opportunity to ‘showcase our cowboy heritage’

The opening of the Gunsmoke Trail provides an opportunity for Wichita residents to “showcase our cowboy heritage,” said Brandy Evans, vice president of marketing for Visit Wichita.

The trail’s attractions in that city take visitors “back in time,” she said.

Melissa Dixon, executive director of the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the collaboration between those involved with the trail is a “a win-win for all of our communities.”

Why does the Old West still resonate with people today?

One reason the American frontier still resonates with tourists is because people remain interested in the conflicts of “good vs. evil” and “man vs. nature,” which played out again and again in the Old West, said Deb Goodrich, formerly of Topeka. Goodrich is Garvey Texas Foundation historian-in-residence at Fort Wallace in western Kansas.

Images of Old West inhabitants — such as the cowboy, the lawman, the gunslinger, the saloon girl, the pioneer and the Native American — stick with people because they are powerful, vivid and easy to grasp, Goodrich added.

Such images remain very much a part of this country’s cultural identity, she said.

Many Europeans consider the cowboy to be the “symbol of America,” though cowboys actually make up a relatively small percentage of the people here, Goodrich said.

Goodrich and the Garvey Texas Foundation aren’t involved with the Gunsmoke Trail.

How can I access the trail and what will it offer?

The Gunsmoke Trail is easily accessible through a mobile “passport” program, which allows smartphone users to check in at different stops, earning points for prizes, Visit Wichita’s news release said.

The passport functions like a mobile app but requires no app download, it said.

The release said Wild West-themed attractions to which visitors will be directed include the following:

• In Wichita, Old Cowtown Museum, Wichita-Sedgwick Country Historical Museum, Old Town Wichita, the Keeper of the Plains, the Chisholm Trail, the Mid-America All-Indian Museum and Historic Delano District.

• In Abilene, Hitching Post Restaurant and Saloon and the World’s Largest Belt Buckle.

• In Hays, the Historic walking Tour on the Bricks in downtown Hays, where bronze plaques mark the sites of the first shops, saloons and shootout.

• In Dodge City, Boot Hill Museum, the Santa Fe Depot and the Dodge City Trail of Fame.

As reported in the Topeka Capital Journal