The Sedalia Katy Depot

Use this guide to discover hidden treasures aboard the Sedalia History Train.  

This steel sculpture is 35 feet of rolling Rag Tag storyline.  The plasma-cut trains and its tracks are inspired by children’s visions of scenes and characters from Sedalia, Missouri’s melodious past.  The work was engineer by artist Christine Schilling in the Hammersmith Studio of blacksmith John Merrell in Springfield, Missouri.

First of all, Rag Tag Train is a Hands-on experience ... try this:
Clang out a beat on the Xylophone Cow Catcher with a genuine Rail Road spike or Create your own Raged Time rhythm, a rhythm of the rails. (But watch out for the naughty steer stuck to the front of the cowcatcher!)

An Engine must have Wheels and Gears to keep the train in motion ... find these three moving parts on Engine:     
    • Saxaphone playing engineer
    • Spinning gear inside the cab
    • Larger spinning wheel

A Katy Girl with Shirley Temple curls watches the Engines smoke stack puff out clouds of surprises:         
Can you find:
    • Musical notes
    • Rabbits
    • Skateboarders

Swirling, twirling, bouncing behind the engine, the roller coaster train track is loaded with surprises.  Up on "The Hill" see if you can find:
    • The Clock. Trains had to run ON TIME.
    • The Pullman passenger car full of waving kids, not unlike the orphan trains
    • The cow in the cattle car  he rocks! (back and forth, that is)

At the swooping dip in the tracks, perspective twists, and so do the tracks.  Find two more moving parts:
    •  Gandy Dancers
    •  An engine steaming home to the roundhouse

The Round House signals a change in tempo ...

The train track become piano keys as Rag Tag celebrates Sedalia’s musical past!  Swing on over to Downtown Sedalia to find these moving parts:
    • Bothwell Hotel, a happening place both upstairs and down.
    • The Carnegie Library, first one west of the Mississippi
    • Swiveling Piano Man (maybe its Scott, maybe it’s not)

One stage leads to another. Because Sedalia is home to Missouri's STATE FAIR, Rag Tag Train becomes a stage to showcase prize winning fair entries.  Hunt for these hopeful contestants:
    • Bigger than Life Blue Ribbon tomatoes
    • Prize porkers resting at the foot of The Ferris Wheel,
    • Racing pigs dashing in and out of the SWINE HOUSE.
    • Exotic rabbits, lop-eared and not, vie for the Bunny-Beauty Prize in the
       rabbit ring.
    • “Why are the chickens crossing the road?”  They’re strutting and clucking 
       towards the winners circle on the other side.
    • Frisbie Dogs leaping for honors
    • Not to be outdone, Sedalia’s famous “Kicking mules” kick their up heels and         swish their tails.

From underground comes a small train rising,signaling another change. Times changed, and so did life on the rails.  At the final railroad “crossing” find these signs of changing times:
    • Not MoPaC’s Eagle or the Katy Flyer but a different kind of “bird” flying at  
       the end of the line.
    • Two new kinds of wheels zooming along the trails.

The Rag Tag train tells a story about change.  Winds of change blew in on the rails, then drifted away with the times.  Did you notice:
Smoke from the engine becomes music; musical notes shift into train tracks; the rails become a piano keyboard; the keys flow into downtown Sedalia and tumble onto a musical stage, which leads to a stage for prize winningState Fair produce, racing piggies, beauteous bunnies, Frisbee dogs and kicking mules, and train wheels give way to other rolling fun!

Rag Tag is even more than RAILS to TRAILS! It’s the story of Rails to Scales, and Rails to Swishing tails, too.
Don’t forget to TOUCH the textures. They are perfect for making rubbings!
    • MoPAC Eagle and MKT Emblems on the Engine ...
    • Check out the chunky, bumpy coal on the “Cole” car..
    • What parts make sounds like the trains?
    • What kind of rhythms and patterns can you find here.
      • Visual rhythms, Repeating patterns
    • Animals at the Fair
    • Rise and fall of the tracks
    • Clickity clack of the rails

Have fun Counting ...

    animals     train cars         engines     complete trains

     wheels     moving parts      cyclers     musical parts

    musicians