Bülow was the surname of an aristocratic German family. Maybe the GN stock or bond salesman said they'd name a place after them if they invested. Seriously, there are a lot of western place names like that.Some may be puzzled by my comment about being mesmerized by the Big Sky Country of Montana. My train trips are so infrequent I lo.................
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Many sidings (circled s) were probably named by the railroad, perhaps after a nearby mountain, or in the case of Tiber for a dam 20 miles from Chester, MT. But a few, like Buelow, remain a mystery. It's just a 1½ mile long passing siding with no grain elevators or anything else to distinguish it.
As you can probably tell, it doesn't take much to get me mesmerized!
In the1916 Railway Guide it was named 'Bison' and did not have a telegraph office. Adjacent Chester and Joplin did. The Mixed would stop there. In the 1951 GN public timetable it was replaced two miles east by Buelow and Train 28, the coach only Fast Mail would stop there on flag at 11:21 p.m. The westbound Mail would not stop there.
Now picture yourself out there with a lantern at a trackside sign that says 'Buelow' on a March night and trying to flag a Northern leading a dozen head-end cars (mail, baggage and express) and a coach or two full of railway employees riding on passes and trying to top each other with stories about the Division Superintendent. Picture their shock as the air brakes slam on and the engineer nearly puts the train into emergency. Imagine the colorful greeting from the conductor as he shoves you up the steps and gives a highball all in one series of irritated motions.
I'd recommend walking the three miles to Joplin where there was an agent or even the seven miles to Chester, the county seat, served by the Oriental Limited. My apologies to the Buelow Chamber of Commerce.
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