I lived as a kid in University City, west of North & South Rd, north of Olive St Rd, south of Page. Like you, I could hear the horns of a Rock Island or TRRA train heading west out of the small yard they had in Olivette. If I got on my bike quickly and rode like a madman north up the three blocks to the tracks, I could catch the train running through the cut west of N & S Rd. Did that a lot during the summer! Also climbed down into the cut sometimes and mashed a few pennies! Never did take any pictures. Between 6th and 7th grade, we moved to Normandy. I could hear the Wabash there, but it was too far away to catch a train coming. That would have been fun as they ran a lot of passenger trains in addition to freight. K
Ken, I wonder at times on why I did not take pictures at Macklind Ave., where Frisco and MoPac had parallel tracks. I guess I didn't have my own Kodak at the time. I climbed up the crossing shanty at the MOP crossing and can see if a train was coming down both main lines. I guess our/my world at that time was it. We didn't think about the future, the crossing shanty will always be there, the trains will always come by, and I will have my bike. John
Wow, this post brings back a lot of memories! Johnson Train Shop was on Hampton close to Dubourg High School. My parents bought my 2 Lionel HO Texas Special passenger cars there. Checkered Flag Hobbies in Concord Plaza was my place to go in the '60's and 70's. Trains were mostly a sideline as they had a huge slot car track. I wish I knew of General Grant hobbies then, as it was close by. The Carondolet branch had a siding for Busch's private car close to his estate, but was long gone before I entered this world. Rich
Wow. St Louis is and always has been a great model railroad community. As a result, we had a number of excellent MR shops as various people have listed above. Now almost none exist. Wow! What a shame. I well remember how pleasing it was to pick up and open the box to see a neat new model railroad item come to TinkerTown. I know the same is true in most other areas, but I think KC still has a couple of decent shops at least. True KC folks? I visited a shop in Overland Park, I think, with son Kurt when we were putting up the Polar Express set for the girls around 2012. It was mainly a Lionel shop, but he had a set of O-gauge Meteor (or Texas Special) cars there that were quite impressive. K
