Looking Back At The Hoxie Subdivision

The great post of the trip on the Current River Branch inspired me to post some information and photographs of the Hoxie Subdivision.

The first shot that I will add is a great find by a good friend and Poplar Bluff Police officer J. R. Keirsey. He found one of the only remaining milepost signs anywhere on the line, MP 189.20.

The post itself is amazing that it is still standing, in fact there is a date nail in the pole. It looks to be (19)35. I will be posting more shots.

Mile post 189.20 on the timetable shows to be between Rombauer, MP 186.0, and Poplar Bluff, MP 195.0, near a station called Sawyer that was at MP 188.8.

The ROW is just behind and to the left.

 

Here are some shots of where the Hoxie Subdivision crossed some of the sloughs and rivers near Poplar Bluff.

Photographs 5, 6 and 7 - The trestle is over Palmers Slough which would have been about MP 193.

Photograph 8 - The Pratt through truss bridge is over the Black River.

Photograph 9 - Part of the river bridge was dismantled for safety reasons.

Edit 4/24/2024: Added photograph reference numbers.
MKD

 

More shots of the Black River bridge 194.4 at Poplar Bluff, MO, MP 195.0, on the Hoxie Subdivision.

Edit 4/24/2024: Additional information on this bridge can be located in the Forum>Historical>Buildings and Structures>Bridges section.

Please see the following link.

https://www.frisco.org/shipit/index...ar-bluff-mo-mp-195-0-hoxie-subdivision.14206/

Added bridge number, depot mile post and link to thread with bridge information.
MKD

 

More shots of the Hoxie Subdivision in and near Poplar Bluff, MO.

Photograph # 35 is old Highway 60 just east of town. The highway crossing was just a few feet past where the old pavement ends. The new Business 60 is in the background.

Some old mainline and sidings still remain and the 1913 rail is the old siding that went into Barnes Grocery Company.

Photograph #31 is the old main looking north at about MP 194.3. The 1925 rail is in the old main.

Photograph #28 is an old switch stand head block ties.

 

Photograph #27 is rails still in the roadway north of Poplar Bluff.

Photograph #32 is the old mainline lookin north at the siding into Barnes Grocery. The Missouri Pacific used this to spot cars at Barnes up until the late 1980s.

Photograph #23 is looking southbound, just on the other side of the trees is the Palmers Slough trestle.

The Poplar Bluff depot has been restored to perfect condition and is the MoArk Railroad Museum with beautiful displays of all the area railroads inside.

Even the train status board on the depot exterior has been restored.

 

Photograph #20 is a sign at the Poplar Bluff depot with its history.

The caboose is at the depot, although it is not an original Frisco car, it is still nice to have.

Photograph #17 is looking south near the approach to the urban cut flanked by buildings.

The depot is just out of sight and to the right in the background.

The main ran close to and between some of the downtown buildings.

 

The Hoxie Subdivision has a cut that is flanked by rough cut stone that is spanned by bridges that produces a tunnel like appearance most people did not know about.

The cut ran under and was spanned by North Main Street and North Broadway Street near downtown Poplar Bluff, MO.

In the closeup photograph shot #15 you can see a milepost of 194.6.

Note the old rail sections that are used as bridge deck roadway supports.

All of the cut views below the bridge overpasses are looking northbound.

Edit 4/24/2024: North Main Street and North Broadway Street join at an angled intersection just north for the former cut location.

The cut under the bridges had been located between Lester Street and East Elm Street, in line with the tracks that paralleled Johnson Drive to the northwest.

The city has subsequently removed the bridges and filled the cut under the North Main Street and North Broadway roadways bridges.

Buildings flanking the former cut walls on either side are angled in this area giving an indication of the former location of the right of way.

The triangular shaped building south wall at 357 North Main Street was north of the cut, and north wall of rectangular building at 351 North Main Street was on the south side of the cut.

An alley like space that had been the cut void has largely been filled in between the buildings. Some of the top of cut stone walls remain visible at the foundations between the buildings.

Updated current status of the former cut, street roadway bridges and provided specific street address location.
MKD

 

Amazing. Two trips I have taken recently to Poplar Bluff found me looking for the old route thru downtown.

On the second trip I had the right route and finally realized I was driving on the old roadbed and if the public works building had not been in the way I could have seen the steel bridge behind it.

I had a good idea of how the track curved to the right to continue east toward the bridge but thought I saw only a cut where the tracks ran.

No wonder it was so secluded.

Thanks for posting.

 

Here’s a couple of unique photos of the Hoxie in PB that I have.
Photo #1 is looking north at the black river bridge, you can also see a water tower in the background
Photo #2 is of a one of the frisco’s gas motor cars at the depot