Richie Kennedy | route56.com

Welcome to route56.com

Welcome to my anchor point on the web. For over 20 years, I have shared various subjects regarding highway, railways, local radio, and more.

I chose the name “route56” in honor of the green and white variant of the US Highway shield that the Kansas Department of Transportation and its predecessor agency used specifically to mark US 56 from the designation of US 56 in 1956 until KDOT elected to adopt the standard black-and-white design in the mid-1980s

Click on the links above to access the pages devoted to the history of local radio and Kansas Highways, along with other creative outlets.

You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, and Flickr.

Latest Blog Posts

  • Poor Little Allison

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    Yesterday was a bit of a scare for me, and for my cat, Allison (I named her after a Friend of Mine) She lost weight (a week ago, she looked fine, by yesterday, I could feel her bones). I took her to the vet, who noticed that her skin was a tinge of yellow. He…

  • What a way to start the morning.

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    I got out of bed this morning to the sound of the weather radio…. a signs of things to come. At about 8:00 this morning, a rather nasty storm cell passed this morning with a major wind gust.  The wind knocked down part of our fence… I called the wind damage in to the Weather…

  • Drawing attention from the law

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    Especailly since 9/11, railfanning has ocassionally come under scrutiny from the police. There have been stories of Police bring the FBI in on railfans, confiscating film, cards and camera. For me, it wasn’t that much; however, today as I was railfanning the BNSF Emporia Sub near Ottawa, I did draw attention from a Franklin County…

  • DCC, Part 2

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    I blogged a couple weeks ago about my new Digital Command Control system for my model railroad.  I now have 3 more units wired up for DCC. The first unit is a Norfolk Southern C44-9W.  I had tinkered with it for some time to get it running for DCC, but the first decoder got messed…

  • I-70 mess

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    Earlier this month, part of I-70 in Elllis county was closed after a truck load sliced through part of the deck. Ryan in Colorado has pictures at his site

  • An evening with Cyrus

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    Today was the first time I had gone “solo” with my cousin Cyrus First, we went to my cousin (his aunt) Emily so that he can play with her dog and I could work on her computer.  After that, we went to my place where he could view the trains.  We than went over to…

  • Birthday note….

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    This past Thursday was my friend Allison Carson‘s birthday.  I left a message on her cell phone’s voicemail last Saturday where I started out with the first verse to Dan Seals’ “One Friend,” and followed it up with a quick email Thursday morning. By the time I got off of work Thursday afternoon, Allison wrote…

  • New engine

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    A while back, Athearn announced a new series of their GP60M locomotive models.  One of the locomotives was of the prototype Santa Fe engine #156.  156 was one of the engines that was used for the 1995 Topeka Railroad Days special that I had “photoshoped” with a picture of my friend Allison.  Because of the connection to…

  • US 103 flip… Radio Rich and Louann begin TODAY

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    I figured that this would be what would happen… Radio Rich and Louann (who officially left a competing station a month ago) began at US 103 at 7:30. They also debut a new slogan “The Capital City’s Best Country,” and basically drop the “classic” from their format. The Website has now been updated as well:…

  • BNSF Lawrence yard goat taken for a joyride

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    Somebody decided to take the BNSF Lawrence Yard goat (2467) for a Joyride, per a radio story. It apparantly struck the Derail at about 14 MPH. It was rerailed Monday morning and moved to Topeka. I have an alibi… so don’t blame me :).