From the Alvin and Rosalie Sara Check studio, PBS Kansas Presents Positively Kansas, It's Time for Positively Kansas coming up.

A titan of iron and steam is being reborn.

We go inside the high stakes, all volunteer mission to strip down and rebuild a legacy of the Kansas frontier.

Also, 70 years after a monster tornado nearly wiped a town off the map, we revisit the state's deadliest storm and the tragedy that revolutionized forecasting.

Plus, learn about a predatory industry built on broken hearts.

We unmask the cruel tactics of romance scams and the red flags that could save your life savings.

Plus, we explore the majestic sight of bald eagles soaring through the Kansas sky.

Isaiah Scott Join us for a half hour of information and inspiration on Positively Kansas.

And.

It's a titan of iron and steam, a living relic of the Kansas prairie that refuses to be confined to the history books.

In Abilene, the state's only operating steam engine is being stripped to its core.

Piece by gritty piece, in a high stakes mission to save a legacy that defined the American frontier.

Chris Frank takes us inside this all volunteer effort to reclaim a piece of the Kansas past.

Once this iron giant thundered across the Kansas Plains, its whistle and bell echoing through towns and farmland, its smoke trail stretching into the sky.

It was a symbol of power, of industry and of the golden age of American railroading.

It was the livelihood for connection.

It was how you got mail, how you got food, how you exported, what you were selling, how you wired, what you were buying.

It was the main method of transportation for everything until until the automobile.

The railroad was critical to the early Kansas economy in the 1800s.

Every new town coveted a rail line.

Having won gave a community a real chance to grow.

Locomotive 3415 came to life in 1919.

Serving the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.

It actually ran from Kansas City to Amarillo on the Kansas City of Oklahoma City, so it spent a lot of its life running back and forth across Kansas.

And of course, in the later years, when railroads, diesels and put diesel engines on passenger trains, it was relegated to the freight service.

But it still was proud to be, Kansas.

Time has a way of silencing even the strongest machines.

Now what once roared with life sits partially dismantled a steel puzzle spread across a workshop floor in Abilene.

Yet this isn't the end of its story.

It's a new beginning.

Every 15 years, the Federal Railroad Administration requires a full overhaul for safe steam operation.

And then every 15 years, because it is a pressure vessel that can blow up if it's not maintained safely.

There is, a stringent requirement that you have to go through and test the boiler and replace flue tubes and do a variety of mechanical things to it, including ultrasound the boiler to make sure that it's still safe to operate.

Then after you do that, then you put it all back together and it'll be good for another 15 years.

It takes about 40 volunteers to dismantle and rebuild the engine.

One of them is retired physician Joseph Stephen Schwartz, who once helped heal the people of Abilene and now is helping heal this locomotive.

I've been doing it about full time in retirement since 2013, when I retired.

So it keeps you busy, keeps me busy, and I tell people I'd much rather do this than golf.

I gave up golfing years ago, so instead of a golf club, he handles a torch shaped metal back into form.

It's the biggest thing I've ever worked on, and I restored and overhauled some trucks and tractors and stuff, but not anything like this.

When 3415 was in service, you might have seen Doctor Schwartz as the train engineer.

Steam locomotives like this one were retired, with diesel trains taking their place.

Santa Fe Railroad donated the retired locomotive to Abilene in the 1950s.

For decades, the locomotive was a static display here in Eisenhower Park, but like Lazarus being raised from the grave, so volunteers resurrected the locomotive to service.

And now they're trying to do it all over again.

We're the ones who could get the engine out of the park 15, 16 years ago.

And every builder, Sam Minnick and the late Fred Smith, envisioned restoring the engine and creating what became the Abilene Smoky Valley Railroad from 2009 to 2023.

Thousands rode it's dinner and entertainment trains.

The service continues today, but with a diesel locomotive, while 3415 is under repair.

Our primary, tourist ride is, what we call the Flint Hills Express.

It's a two hour ride between Abilene Enterprise and back, and it talks about, the history of railroad Kansas, history of how railroads helped Kansas agriculture and how they helped each other.

And then, enterprise.

We start with the gristmill that we own, that, they take, turkey red winter wheat and dried it into flour.

And then you could step next door to the cattle store, purchase it for your own use at home.

And while a diesel locomotive fills in for now, these volunteers dream about getting their steamer back in service.

So I admit, I do daydream about that on my drives to and from work in the morning and thinking about what it's going to be like on a weekend here.

You may find Todd Walter in overalls, operating a power tool on the job during the week.

He does project management work in hospitals and other large facilities.

Now that's Colin Cooper crawling out from inside the firebox.

He's a software developer in Manhattan.

During the week, but here on weekends, like many others, he's a hands on historian.

I don't know that pride is the right word, but I'm sure there's going to be a piece of me in this will.

I have contributed a good portion to it.

He's been a crew member on the diesel train, but dreams of the day of being a crew member on the steamer.

It's just two too fun to not come back anymore, and I want to be a part of it for as long as I can.

A major challenge is money.

Many parts for a 100 year old engine are expensive or custom made.

The restoration cost could run between 300,000 and $600,000, 300 to 600,000, depending on what we find.

Again, it's, it's kind of a crapshoot because you take it apart and then you do all the testing and a lot of times you don't necessarily know something's bad until you do the testing.

So the volunteers look forward to the day.

Every part is back in place.

And locomotive 3415 steams down the line again.

They hope that day arrives in time for America's 250th birthday, but they know it could take longer.

Joe Minick says it takes the right kind of person to give up the long weekend hours to complete this work.

Well, you have to be nuts.

At least it helps enabling.

For Positively Kansas, this is Chris Frank reporting.

You can go to the Abilene Smokey Valley Railroad's website to check for upcoming excursions you might be interested in.

70 years after an entire town is nearly wiped off the map, the scars of the state's deadliest tornado are being reopened.

It was a night of unthinkable tragedy that revolutionized how we tracked storms.

Jim Gray explores the survivors memories and the legacy that burned modern weather forecasting.

You got to him.

Yeah.

Tornadoes have been bringing death and destruction to middle America for as long as people have lived here.

Oh, and the deadliest on record in Kansas hit in 1955.

Author Jim Minick has written a book about it.

The book's title is Without warning because there literally was none.

By the time the dust settled, nearly 90 people were dead and the town had been reduced to rubble.

Since then, America has suffered only one tornado, more deadly.

That was the one that hit Joplin, Missouri in 2011 that killed 158.

The Udall storm stands out as both a tragedy and a game changer for the way it forced improvements in weather forecasts and warnings.

The Udall tornado, I think, really woke the weather service up to how much better they needed to be at communicating the message.

Even though the tornadoes, the storm system, hit.

Oh, yeah.

Blackwell, Oklahoma.

In like an hour before it hit, you know, so.

And it killed roughly 20 people there.

So it and and it just slowly moved north.

In that hour's time.

So, you know, today's standard, there would have been plenty of warning, but those were the early days of television forecasters, with their primitive radar and limited experience, had given viewers the all clear.

By the time the 10 p.m.

news that ended, people went to bed.

Then at 1035, boom.

I've, I've never lived west of the Mississippi.

I was born after 1955.

I've never seen a tornado, let alone be in one.

So I was, just fascinated by the phenomenon of its tornado.

The power.

For the survivors, the impact of that terrifying and tragic night is indelibly burned into their thoughts.

And emotions.

More than half a century later, all the survivors are very weather conscious and very, you know, they live with their phones.

If there's any threat of storms, they they are very aware of that.

And I think they pass that on to the, you know, their children and their children's children.

Their stories are so dramatic and shocking that Minnick, who had intended to write a novel based on his interviews with the survivors, quickly changed his mind.

But as I started gathering all these stories and these people were sharing them so freely, it just really quickly I realized I could not change it into fiction.

It was so powerful on its own.

Plus, I wanted to honor the gifts that these people were given and just that honor them for surviving.

The book includes many harrowing, courageous, and almost unbelievable firsthand accounts like Bobby Atkinson was 15 years old.

He felt the house lift and he jumped through the window and crouched beside the foundation is the first wall of the tornado came through, and it and it was really strong and powerful.

Blew all his clothes off.

And then there was a law, and I was I think that's like the when the center passed over and he looked up and the house was gone, and he saw and heard nobody else.

And then the second wall of the tornado came, and it just pummeled him.

I mean, it it broke both his arms, crushed his hand.

He he had concussions, was knocked out and broke one of his legs and, had a two by two board puncture his back and, like, be lodged in his chest cavity.

So he he waited and waited and, nobody came to rescue him.

And so he crawled a half a mile out because he couldn't walk, and he had broken arms and and just imagine crossing the hat, crawling a half a mile over all the debris.

And then he eventually got to the edge of town where there cars coming to search and rescue.

And a minute says without warning, gives readers a sense of the importance of community, the importance of weather knowledge and preparedness, and the importance of determination and courage in the face of overwhelming danger.

I'm Jim Gray for Positively Kansas.

The Udall tragedy also revolutionized television news, proving that in the heartland, accurate forecasting is a lifeline.

It's a predatory industry built on broken hearts and stolen millions.

A digital plague bleeding Kansans dry in the name of love.

Now, two local authors are sounding the alarm, taking their story on the road to unmask the cruel tactics used to exploit the vulnerable.

Chris Frank has the story.

40 year career in finance, auditing in the county.

The Derby Senior Center, one of many stops for Mary Winter and Sharyn Oldham as they warn seniors about not falling for romance scams.

Particular scammers love America.

Why would they love America?

Well, we're a wealthy nation.

We have a lot of retired people with disposable incomes.

So they they really move fast and then they start the love bombing.

It starts out as a friendship, you know, and then it just immediately escalates.

Sharing old him and Mary Wynter coauthored the book The Scammer Who Loved Me.

The book has tips, tricks and tools said to keep the readers heart and money safe from fraud on the internet.

Since January.

Now we're in December.

I've had over 165 lovers, so-called internet lovers, Oldham clarifies.

Oldham says the would be lovers are scammers, targeting her because she fell for one romance scam, costing her several thousand dollars.

So I believe the doctor that was in Oslo, Norway, on a boat doing humanitarian things and didn't have access to his money.

That bad experience opened her eyes to the world of romance scams.

But you know, it only really took one micro retirement.

Oldham is on social media sites promoting her financial coaching business.

But scammers also see those sites and try to exploit them.

Let's say I'm a weirdo and they knew it because it's out there on my web page about for my financial coaching.

So they know a lot.

And if you block them, they will.

Chances are pop up in your email.

She says it starts out with internet flirting.

And of course is someone out of the blue just says, oh, I think you're cute.

Well, and it builds from there.

But there's the love bombing I have received in one day 15 voice calls.

She says the calls are AI generated with AI generated faces.

They're not real.

And then after they love on you for a day or two, then there's usually a crisis.

Maybe they got a kid back home that needs is sick and they need money, or just all kinds of things just to put what we Western, in this Bible Belt area pull on our heartstrings just to get you sucked in.

Winter posts scam alerts on Instagram regularly.

So much so, she says scammers try to engage her into a scam.

How do I know they're scammers?

They have, no followers.

They have made no posts.

And every now and then Instagram will give me a scam warning.

So I watching those folks to see what their next move is.

Because for me it's like research their research into the world of scammers has led to the tips they share, hoping others don't fall for the same scams.

According to a recent FBI, Sinard report, older Americans age 60 and over reported $4.9 billion stolen through fraud in 2024.

The average loss was $83,000.

The report shows a 43% increase over the previous year.

Those losses are just to seniors.

Not total scam losses.

Winter in Oldham one.

Everyone particularly vulnerable seniors to no.

Scammers are studying their social media postings.

They say the scammers watch your postings for life changes that the thief can work into a scam.

The scammers initial contact may seem innocent.

Hi, I am new to Instagram.

Can you give me some pointers or you know, any kind of an icebreaker that you might get from a stranger?

Deserves a lot of skepticism and a lot of venting scams can come from anywhere.

Winter says.

But Winter says many of the organized groups operating romance scams have roots in West Africa, including Nigeria.

They have a scam culture in their country.

It's called the Nigerian Prince scam, also known as the advance fee scam.

Winter says there are hundreds of these pods or groups in Nigeria working their scams.

Law enforcement agencies say such pods are numerous in West African nations and throughout the world, but not confined to Nigeria.

The scams go back a couple of hundred years.

They're just more sophisticated with modern social media, and their sole purpose is pinpointing romance scams and extracting money.

She says they do that by looking at social media postings.

I don't, put very many photos of friends or family just because I know what can happen.

The scammers prey on those who appear to have emotional vulnerabilities, such as those being recently widowed.

She also advises to be careful about social bragging.

I know a lot of us feel more online.

We're in full brag mode.

We're like, look at me doing this.

Look at me doing that.

And the scammers looking at saying, oh, look at that, look at that.

And so when they approach you, they have a certain amount of information going in.

And that is social engineering.

Winter says the scammers formulate scripts based on one's social media postings, scripts on how to approach a target.

Their scripts are who they're going to be, which alias they're going to take, which catfished photos they're going to use.

They've got it all laid out.

And this happens the minute someone responds to one of their, messages like, how are you doing today?

She says, if you give money once, you forever become a target.

Never give them money.

You give one of them money.

You'll get a slew of them.

As we said, romance scams result in multi-billion dollar losses to victims.

And that's why scammers keep working them.

The thieves target seniors hoping to find those with weaker cognitive abilities.

According to the National Institutes of Health.

So if you want to hold on to your hard earned money well until retirement, learn from these two to beware of social media friend requests from those you have no connection to.

It may be a friend request from a scammer out to get your money.

We want everybody in this room to become scam hunter.

This is Chris Frank for Positively Kansas.

For more ways to stay safe online, you can find scam prevention tips from the Kansas Attorney General at Aggie CSGo.

Gov.

Few sites are more majestic than bald eagles flying through the Kansas sky.

Some live here year round, but as Mike Blair shows us in this week's Kansas, while they report a lot of them from other states stopped by to visit.

Flying Eagles.

It always seems to make the list of Earth's most beautiful sightings.

Bald eagles, large and powerful on the wing.

Carve the blue the clouds in a way a few other birds.

Dart bodies bracketed in wide or stunning subjects that Arkansas.

And their effortless wanderings depict freedom.

They rest on high crags and perches that show them the world.

Sometimes they sit for hours.

And then it will.

They launch themselves against the wind.

To ascend the height.

Sometimes mere specks in the overhead ether.

And they use their broad wings to hide and eat.

Together for nest.

And to do eagle things.

But it's clear to all who watch.

Sometimes eagles fly simply for joy.

Maybe alone.

Maybe in pairs they will.

And play old and young alike.

And to see this makes us better.

A nest is a busy stage of constant activity.

Its mated pair comes and goes, sharing food duties, babysitting, and sometimes an aerial stroll together.

Business around the area helps to show eagle mastery of flight among treetops and shearing breezes.

It's a wondrous place to observe.

So I do.

You and I revel in the goodness of the outdoors.

I'm Mike Blair for Positively Kansas.

That's a wrap for this week.

With federal funding eliminated, the future of Positively Kansas is now in your hands.

You can help by going to CPT.

Dawg and making a $100 donation directly to this program to keep us on the air as a thank you.

We'll proudly feature your name as a supporter at the beginning and end of future episodes.

I host the show for free because our local stories like these deserve to be told.

Thanks for watching us here, Scott.

See you next time.