Cuba to Salem, MO

[roger]

Birdsnest, MO. 9/03 Meramac River replacement bridge blt.1966 w/original pier blt.1873 in bottom photo. Photos by Pat Moreland

[roger]

Abandoned ROW 1/2-mile north of Wesco, MO. 9/03. Photo by Pat Moreland.

[roger]

Abandoned ROW 9/03 Wesco, MO. Photo by Pat Moreland

[roger]

Abandoned Meramac River Bridge 9/03 Goltra, MO. Photo by Pat Moreland.

[roger]

Abandoned Interchange 9/03 Goltra, MO. with Salem Branch and Sligo Furnace RR. Gravel road leading east into woods is called "Old Mine Spur" and is the x-SF ROW. Photo & info by Pat Moreland.

[roger]

Abandoned ROW 9/03 HWY19 Crossing looking east. Photo by Pat Moreland.

[wpmoreland719]

This is what is believe is the very last train on the Salem Branch. This photo was taken in late summer 1984 and shows Burlington Northern GP38-2 no. 2368, former Frisco 698, northbound through Wesco just before crossing Burley Ridge Rd.

I hope I'm not too sentimental when I relate this: I was seven years old when I heard that they were going to take the tracks up on the branch, and I confess, I cried when my parents told me. My first memories were of seeing trains going past the house. Mom and Dad used to hold me up to the kitchen window whenever they heard the horn sounding as it mades it way through town, probably no faster than 10 mph.

I remember when the day came in the summer of 1985. My Dad had told me that there would probably be one last train on the branch that would collect the tracks behind it. So I waited anxiously to get a chance to see another train through Wesco. But it didn't happen that way. A salvage crew came through and within a day or so, the tracks were gone. I remember a friendly man running a skid steer pushing ties together where the siding had been. I rode my bicycle up to him and he stopped long enough to visit with me for a minute. I asked him if they would put the track back some day. He just laughed and said no.

Nowdays, I take my four year old son Austin back to Wesco to visit his grandma and grandpa every now and then. I show him the roadbed and tell him how his great-grandpa was a track man on the Salem Branch, and how there were once red and white diesels that were repainted green and black when daddy was his age. He's facinated by trains and hangs on to every word. He knows the Frisco coonskin logo when he sees it and shouts "Brisco!", since he has trouble with words that start with F. He's already out-grown Thomas the Tank Engine and has a collection of Whittle Wooden diesels, including Union Pacific, Santa Fe, and Amtrak.

I am proud of my heritage associated with this line and hope to add more photos and stories as time permits.

[wpmoreland719]

Loading ties at Salem, early 1900's.

[wpmoreland719]

Caption reads "Street Scene at Wesco", and is dated August 29, 1903. The building to the far left is the grist mill , while the tiny dark building across the tracks from it is the depot. My mother used to catch the train here in the late 40's and ride to Salem to take piano lessons as a young girl. No coaches by that time, passengers had to ride in the caboose! The large building in the center is the Asher Brother's store building. The false front was added sometime after this photo. To the immediate right of the depot is a small store that burned down not too many years after this photo was taken and was never rebuilt. The building with the balcony at the far right is the old hotel. It was torn down in the late 50's or early 60's, and a small house was built there. My parents would eventually buy the house, and that's where I would grow up.

[klrwhizkid]

More! More!

[meteor910]

Love that tie loading ramp at Salem!

The pic was taken probably just before the OHSA inspection, don't 'ya think?

Ken

[wpmoreland719]

Lol, I imagine so. I heard somewhere that they walked on those thin wobbly planks, because they gave them a little more bounce in their steps, thus making carrying the ties a little easier.

Shipping ties and lumber on the Salem Branch was always important, almost up to the very end. My grandpa told a story (he told lots of them!) of opening a boxcar to unload some ties and finding a hobo inside that had been crushed to death when the ties shifted onto him. And he was working near Bangert one day in 1932 when he smashed his hand carrying a tie. They took him to the nearest house for treatment, and that's where he met a young lady that would become my grandmother.

When I was a kid, there were a lot of old timers still around Steelville that had made their living "hewing" ties, but now they've pretty much died off. You can still walk along the old right-of-way and find rotting ends of ties with the tell-tale axe marks on them. I have a lot of respect for a man that can carry a tie on one shoulder!

[wpmoreland719]

End of the line in Salem. Engine is facing northbound. The water tank and roundhouse were about a mile north of the depot and trains would back into town to take on passengers.

[wpmoreland719]

Photo was taken in 1893. The engine on the right is 4-4-0 no. 151, the one that I try to imitate on my Salem Branch layout, with feeble results. It was built in 1881 by Rogers and originally numbered 101. Both engines appear to have oil headlights in this picture, but by 1910, no. 151 had an electric headlight. Note the crowd.....no one was scared of the paparazzi in Salem!

[wpmoreland719]

One of my favorite photos. I wish I knew more precisely where this was taken at. The man on the right in the darker clothes with the mustache appears to be Tom Roberts, judging by some other pictures I have lying around somewhere. He was a track foreman on the Sligo and Eastern.

[w3hodoug]

William, you are to be commended for keeping the Salem branch alive with research and your layout. If I'm ever in Union, I'll give you a call. It's been years since I even drove 63 through there. I did, however, operate a huge contest ham radio station there in the mid 1960's - Chester Franz was the owner. One of my college and ham radio friends, now deceased, also lived in Union.

Layout wise, we're starting to get the entire SL-SF system represented with more being planned and started all the time.

Thanks to Mike and frisco.org we no longer have to be Lone Rangers.

Doug, nearing time for a brain meld with 3rdPlanit for a version of the Ft. Wood RR.

[wpmoreland719]

These original photos were graciously provided to me by Phyliss Perkins, wife of Neil Perkins, who passed away in August 2008. Neil was raised in Wesco. His father Warren Perkins was a teacher at the Wesco school, and owner of the Wesco General Store, formerly known as the Asher Bros. store. His mother Fern Perkins' (nee Housewright) father owned and operated the grist mill.

This photo has the mill in the background. It was unusual in that it's wheel lay horizontally in the water, as opposed to the traditional vertical style. The Meramec River in the background appears to be flooded. The photo was probably taken in 1927 or 1928.

Left to right: Fern Housewright, Ava Earney (my grandpa's sister), and Mildred and Mabel Earney (sisters).

[wpmoreland719]

Photo taken on the steps of the Wesco General Store. Standing left to right: Fern Housewright, Ava Earney, Warren Perkins, Evelyn Beezley. Don't know who the three young men are standing on the ground.

Wesco depot is in the background.

[wpmoreland719]

Wesco Mercantile/Post Office, 1967. Even though there is nothing directly related to the railroad in this photo, I think it holds some value to the modeler.

[wpmoreland719]

Photo 16pdf was taken in 1926. Buildings from left to right are a blacksmith shop, Asher Brother's store/Post Office, and the Frisco depot.

Photo 17pdf is of the Asher Brother's store, taken probably during the 1920's. It is not the same building as the one in the color photo I posted earlier, although they were both called Wesco Mercantile at some point, and both housed the Post Office.

My Dad, bless his heart, has no sense of nostalgia. After he bought the Asher Bros. building, he razed it's upper story, and when he bought the other store building depicted in the color photo in 2001, he tore it completely down. My parent's have a really nice big yard now, but I would have rather him left the old store. He did keep the big Frostee Root Beer bottle cap sign that hung on it's front.

[wpmoreland719]

This photo of Fern Housewright and an unidentified baby was taken between the tracks and the Meramec River facing east. The tie yard is in the background, along with an antique baggage car, which was probably part of a work train. This is one of the few shots that I know of that depict any type train or rolling stock in Wesco.

[wpmoreland719]

I wished I would have done a better job scanning this one, but it's too late now, because I've already returned the albums to Mrs. Perkins. If you look closely, you can see the roof of a boxcar parked on the siding peeking above the Chevy truck with the bed rack. The Frisco spotted boxcars here for Floyd Charcoal and occasionally the Boston Farm until about 1975.

I believe the Perkins' were having a family reunion, thus the reason for the number of cars parked along Santa Fe Street (yes, this road is called Santa Fe St). I like this photo mainly because of the diversity of automobiles seen in it. I wish that model companies produced replicas of common 60's automobiles like this, but instead they tend to stick with Mustangs, Camaros, Chevelle's, Cuda's and so on.