History of railroads coming to Kansas

When you are going down the highway and the flashing lights come on, a red and white striped bar lowers across the road ahead of you and you hear bells ringing and sometimes you hear the blast of a train whistle. So where are you? You are at a railroad crossing and maybe as many as 100 train cars pass before your eyes. It is hard to imagine a time when we did not have trains. So how did they come…