I am just wondering what the current status is on this stretch of rusting rail. I have heard they are going to rehabilitate the entire line, then I have heard it will be made into a hiking trail like the Katy Trail. If anyone has any info please fill me in…[8D]
Missouri Central now run by an adjunct to the Indiana Railroad. Previous owner General Railways, Inc. (Iowa Northwestern RR, etc. out of Omaha) lost its power company financing interest ( Ameren) after they secured favorable coal train rates at LaBadie, MO…current folks trying to open up additional trackage west, they do intend to reopen the entire line, but that takes $$$$ they do not have. The trail people will have to be content with the woefully underutilized Katy Trail. MoDOT is in trouble over their dumb stunt outside of Sedalia with US-65. (Highway engineers and railroads don’t mix, MoDOT has bought a future railroad raise of grade & a new bridge)…slow progress
Thank You for your reply. I was traveling alongside the stretch of track from Owensville-Belle last week really taking notice of how big the trees are getting growing between the rails. It is going to cost a small fortune just to knock the brush and trees out of the way. I still can’t comprehend why Union Pacific didn’t do something with it. As far as I know flooding isnt a major problem on that line like it is the old MP along the Missouri River. Maybe MoDot can fix it… NOT!![:D]
Just wondering where does this line enter St. Louis, around what neighborhood?
Another hope, Mark, is that the American public will somehow rekindle its love with trains. There was a time that the typical American had the love for trains that Americans now have for cars, and that railfans still have for trains. In such an America, lines like this would be restored, so that people could enjoy them. People would go for a scenic train ride much as one goes for Sunday drive, or as I rode around on trolleys anytime I visited relatives in a city with them when I was a teenager. (OK, I did ride the buses in the places, like Charlotteseville, VA, where there were no trolleys.) This would be an expansion of the existing recreational railroading industry and railroad and trolley museums, and the demand would be so great that many of the best “hill-and-dale” lines would be restored. After all, why does Amtrak (usually) use the Moffat-Grand Junction “hill and dale” line instead of the high speed corridor across Wyoming?
Connected to the national network, freight service would logically follow, to serve local needs. Need an example: Look at East Troy, Wisconsin.
From the west side…enters St Louis area from Chesterfield, in the river bottoms, prone to yearly flooding. Then climbs up the bluffs into west St Louis County to Olivette where the line “ends” at Lackland Yard. After that the tracks belong to the TRRA and go on through University City into the city of St Louis itself and ends at Carrie (Ave) yard. On a map, it is the rail line that runs south of I-70 and north of Page Ave.
jabrown: sp and later up sat on it so that Santa Fe could not have it (Ironically they designed it and financed most of its original construction, only to lose it after a stock market pandemic that nearly did-in ATSF)…The BNSF merger and the Frisco line into St. Louis made the issue moot. SSW/SP outbid ATSF for the line after the Rock’s fire sale in 1983 (Santa Fe had designs on the Memphis & St. Louis lines of The Rock…dubbed Sunbelt & Santa Fe RR)