So this is like Subtropolis West of Kansas City (another youtube video) though I am still not exactly sure I understand why you would store a climate controlled boxcar underground or any boxcar for that matter underground. This part does not make sense to me. Interesting video…
It is not a matter of ‘storing’ cars in the underground. There are active business that work in the underground and they both receive and ship product.
Two things:
- Springfield, MO was just named by the Wall Street Journal as the best place to live if you can work remotely. The article is behind a paywall.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/remote-workers-great-place-to-live-11675881131?mod=business_lead_pos4
- Springfield, MO is southeast of Kansas City. Not west of KC.
I think he was referring to Subtropolis, which is another underground storage area. Subtropolis is just west of KC along the Missouri River. The underground storage area in this posting is near Springfield in southern Missouri. There is another very large underground storage area in Kansas.
West of Kansas City is called Kansas!
I’ll correct this a little. It’s in northeastern KC, right north of the Missouri River. I pass by this on the way. My directions in KC are a little confused. This storage area in about a half-mile east of I-435, which I use pretty often.
Also, if I remember correctly, its actual name is Sub Tropolis, but that may also be incorrect due to my faulty memory.
At any rate, the Springfield storage and the KC storage are separate places.
Kansas City straddles two states, MO and KS…hence I usually do not associate either state with the name.
As long as they keep making great barbecue, as far as I am concerned they can choose to be in whatever state they want!
People need to learn geography in the media. Kansas City is on the border on I 70 and closer to Omaha NE time wise than it is to Springfield MO. Springfield is 160 miles away and close to 3 hours in the heart of the Ozarks. Saying their close together is like trying to say Reno is close to Vegas.
SubTopolis - Apparently 55,000,000 square feet, several miles of paved road and several miles of railroad track.
](https://www.wsj.com/articles/remote-workers-great-place-to-live-11675881131?mod=business_lead_pos4)
As someone who has family in Springfield, and has spent a lot of time there, I disagree with the WSJ. Unless you like boardom, then I could see people being okay with it.
Tornado bait.
The WSJ Top 10 places for remote workers:
Springfield, Mo; Joplin, Mo.; Evansville, In; Conway, Ar.; Lafayette, In.; Huntington, WV.; Kansas City, Ks.; St. Louis, Mo.; Wichita, Ks.; Fort Wayne, In.
Not a bad list for watching trains either.
Ed
The #1 (maybe only) requirement appears to be a cheap cost of living. Huntington is right in the middle of the Meth Belt. Springfield, Joplin and Conway are right near each other.
Lafayette is across the river from Purdue, so I would expect internet connectivity would be pretty good. While taking my youngest (CE major at PU) for a shopping spree last spring, we chatted with a greeter at WalMart who was complaining that houses going for under $200K were getting scarce. While there probably are some houses in San Diego county on the market for less than $200K, they’re probably small shacks in remote areas.
Low housing costs was a factor. Actually there was a grid of several factors. One was access to high speed internet service. Springfield recently was converted to high speed fibre optic service. If one looks at the locations, almost all have universities.
Three Indiana locations…actually the listing was for West Lafayette. I incorrectly listed Lafayette. Fort Wayne and Evansville have strong economies and good housing costs.
Lets face it, living in SF, LA, NYC, Boston, or even Chicago with expensive housing costs is a struggle for many people, particularly in their 20s/30s. The trend now is to call workers back to the office, at least a few days per week.
Springfield was a big Frisco terminal back in the day. I have the January 1981 Trains issue on my credenza to re-read…big article on “24 Hours at Springfield”. I am doing some research on Frisco operations in the 70s in my free time and this article addresses the Springfield crossroads.
Also a dandy part 1 article by Fred Frailey (I miss his blogs) on Conrail.
Ed
Correct. It was the site of their major locomotive repair shops and a large yard.
I don’t think anyone was saying they are close together. There was confusion because the original post was misinterpreted as saying this Springfield storage site was in Kansas City.