APRIL 2025 — A missing person was recently found safe thanks in part to Lori Vaden and Josh Golightley, conductors/engineers at Watco’s South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad (SKOL).

While recently traveling from a sand plant back to the SKOL depot in Winfield, Kansas, Vaden noticed a black car parked in a field surrounded by woods. She pointed it out to Golightley, but at the time, neither of them gave it much thought.

It wasn’t until later that day Golightley came across a missing person flyer. The description of the person’s car immediately caught his attention — it looked like the car Vaden spotted earlier. He showed Vaden the flyer, and she agreed.

Golightley then found a family member of the missing person on Facebook and sent them a private message. By this point, the man had been missing for 24 hours. With the frigid temperatures outside, time was of the essence to locate him safely.Within minutes of receiving the tip, the family member called the police and local authorities quickly arrived at the field. By then, the car was nowhere to be found.

Around the same time, Golightley picked up his kids from school and then returned to the area where Vaden first spotted the car. After answering questions from police officers, Golightley suggested they continue searching the surrounding wooded area. It’s there they eventually found the car with the missing person inside. He was cold and confused, but alive.

Golightley and Vaden’s supervisor, Trainmaster Chad Shaffer, said, “It was a joint effort by Josh and Lori. If not for them, the man may not have been discovered until after it was too late.”

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