Dixon Hill and Lindenwood Yards

Discussion in 'Rolla-Lebanon Subdivision' started by Larry F., Aug 23, 2009.

  1. Peddling Joe

    Peddling Joe Frisco Employee

    The Frisco Roadmaster that showed me the (as I recall) bridge pillar or pillars? in Little Piney also pointed out the curve fill allignment you mentioned. This must have been in the late 1970's and the vegetation was much smaller than my return trip April 2011 when I could not re-orient myself. You have cleared up the mystery to me if the pillow has fallen into the river, also MDOT has covered up the alignment on the southern/eastern bank of the Gasconade River. The Roadmaster said one could still see the old grade from the river in more than one location going toward what is now Ft.Leonard Wood. I think Devil's elbow area has canoe rentals? He thought the tunnel was near the original main gate to Ft Wood (1941) Another person later told me the tunnel was being bored by Turk (Turkey) workers and as I recall, may still have some bodies in the caved in tunnel? Apparently there were two (2) tunnels between Arlington and Waynesville?
    Good luck on your research!
    Joe
     
  2. WindsorSpring

    WindsorSpring Member

    Thanks, Ken for your kind words about your experience looking over my shoulder as I fiddled at the computer.

    Basically, our session assembled a set of maps that followed the Gasconade towards Waynesville. From these we constructed digital elevation maps (DEMs) and imported them as routes into TRAINZ to visualize the terrain. Our initial maps did not go far enough up the Big Piney to reach Hooker, so we stayed along the Gasconade until we realized its twists and turns were far too circuitous to be a practical route. In addition, the bluffs along the Gasconade would have created a lot of rock work and opened few opportunities for going up onto the plateau. We did find one promising hollow about 7 river miles west of the Big Piney that cut off a few river miles.

    At this point there seem to be two next steps. The first is to look at terrain opportunities west of Hooker generally following the current I-44 alignment. The second would be to start another thread for reporting results and discussion if there is any interest.

    George Nelson
     
  3. RogerRT

    RogerRT Staff Member Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    All,

    Fascinating stuff!!! This has been on my bucket list for a long time. I asked about the original mainline & tunnel about 10 years ago in an email, I think it was Doug Hughes who replied look for "tunnel holler" on topo maps around the entrance to Ft.Wood. If you have a Delorme map of Missouri it shows a tunnel holler near the original entrance (not the present entrance). It's not on the base but I don't know if I would go poking around there without talking to military first.

    Another thing, around the same time I was at University of Missouri looking at some of the Frisco records and I asked the fellas who worked there if they heard about it & to my surprise they knew all about. They told me they had been to the site with members of the Phelps County Historical Society but it wasn't much to look at, that you could hardly tell it was a tunnel. The person I talked to was Mark Stauter at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Rolla, his e-mail was mstauter@umr.edu. I don't know if he is still there or not. He & John F. Bradbury, Jr. wrote an excellent story on the proposed Rolla-Houston, MO. rail line so they would be the go-to guys if you you want to know about the tunnel.

    The only other thing I have is a map of the line, I don't know how accurate it is or when it was printed but it might provide some clues. As I understand it the line was not to go thru Waynesville/St.Roberts but south of it, which correlates to everything I have seen. Keep us posted...

    Roger R. Taylor
    KCMO
     

    Attached Files:

  4. RogerRT

    RogerRT Staff Member Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    All,

    I have a correction, tunnel holler is not in the DeLorme Atlas but in a Terraserver topo map

    http://msrmaps.com/image.aspx?T=2&S=12&Z=15&X=719&Y=5229&W=3&qs=|waynesville|mo|

    is the link, it located on the west side of I44 spur in the bottom to left-center of the map.

    Or, go to MSR maps, enter Waynesville, MO., click topo map, enlarge the map to it's largest size, zoom down to 2 clicks from closest you can get around a mile south of I44. and there it is.

    Roger
     
  5. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Great info Roger. Thanks!

    K
     
  6. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    I'm a few years behind, but the issue in question is FMIG Lines #104 (Winter 1989/90):

    http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/fmig-newsletters.1665/page-5

    http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/fmig-newsletters.1665/page-6

    Note that this issue runs over several successive posts with separate PDF files on both pages 5 and 6 of the "FMIG Newsletters" section.

    Issue #104 includes:
    • Pictures of the new trackwork
    • Aerial Photos from "Frisco First" magazine in 1946
    • Map and profile of new Dixon Hill alignment (also from "Frisco First")
    • USGS topo map of lower Dixon Hill
    • USGS map of Dixon
    • Article from "Trains" magazine in April, 1945 on "Dixon Hill Improvement"
    • "Frisco Line Changes Improve Operation" article from "Railway Age", August 1946
    • "Frisco Relocates on Dixon Hill" article from "Frisco First"

    This issue is a superb read for any Frisco fan, especially those interested in this thread.

    Best Regards,
     
    Last edited: Nov 3, 2015
  7. Brad Slone

    Brad Slone Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Guys,

    Starting up and old thread, but over the weekend I went on a little hike, (actually I know the landowner so I drove the truck) up part of the old grade west of Jerome. MoDot has plans to realign highway D latter this spring possibly removing part of the old grade in the bottom north of the railroad bridge. The photos were taken west of this location were I discovered the locations of several concrete bridges that I never knew where there, one quite tall. For reference on Brian's earlier post look at map number three and the long tangent stretch in the middle of the map, this is the area were the photo's were taken. There is a considerable amount of drainage from the surrounding hills thus the need for the larger structures, I encountered 4 total, the second photo is taken at the first bridge (eastern most) looking east (towards Jerome), thought you all might enjoy.

    Brad Slone
     

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  8. TAG1014 (Tom Galbraith RIP 7/15/2020)

    TAG1014 (Tom Galbraith RIP 7/15/2020) Passed Away July 15, 2020 Frisco.org Supporter

    Very neat, "secret" place, the bridges are almost like ancient "Roman" ruins.

    Tom G.
     

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