It is with a heavy heart that I inform you of the death of "K" Vollrath.

  Many of you have probably purchased photos from him over the years.  Others such as me, have been live steam friends of his for more than 30 years.  His list of friends is very, very long.   He was a member of the Bitter Creek & Southern  live steam  track in the Kansas City area but, welcomed country wide by live steamers everywhere.   Twice a year he would return to the Comanche and Indian Gap R R at Priddy, Tx for the spring and fall meets.  He was a railroader and worked for the R I, MP, and some others on a short time basis, and finished his career at the KCS as a dispatcher and later, Labor Relations..  He had an enormous picture negative collection.

K could tell railroad stories by the hour.  Many loved to get in those sessions with him.  I would be remiss in not telling one.   He dispatched the KCS at night on the division from Port Arthur Tx, northward.   There were only two trains at night, one north and one south.  There were no open stations at night.  He would give both as order like this  (correct names not remembered).  Extra North 651 (with over 200 cars) leave enough  cars at A, B, and C to meet extra 700 south at XR.  Extra 700  has 245 cars.  And he would explain 651 would spend half the night setting out and picking up its train.  He wished them luck.           And, there are just as many funny stories about him.

A couple of years ago K began to have some dementia problems and he moved to Dallas Tx last year to be near his daughter.  He was in a assisted  care facility, fell and broke his hip and had surgery but, as so often happens at his age, it was just to much for him.

Hi green old friend.