Cape Girardeau, MO, St. Louis Subdivision, MP 131.3

Old U.S. 61 Highway Overpass - Cape Girardeau, MO

According to my track chart, it is precisely Bridge 135.8.

 

Keith,

Thanks for clarifying on the old U.S. 61 Highway overpass location!

That also helps to clarify what Rock Creek likely was on the old timetable.

Looks like there is a trestle or bridge that the railroad crosses just a smidgen east of the overpass.

Best Regards,

 

A friend of mine, Ken Steinhoff, formerly from Cape Girardeau, is a retired photo-journalist.

He is running a blog about Cape Girardeau in the 1960sand has featured a number of things besides aerial photograph of interest to Frisco and railroad people. Please see the following link.

www.capecentralhigh.com

In two different postings he talked about the two steam switch engines that used to serve the cement plant in Cape. Take a look at them and read about them here.

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape-photos/cape-girardeau-parks-are-well-trained/

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape-photos/parks/hooligans-deface-train/

He documented the Frisco bridge across Cape La Croix Creek.

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape-photos/1929-railroad-bridge/

He posted a video of kids catching the train in Cape for a ride to Chaffee, MO.

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape-photos/train-trip-to-chaffee/

 

Folks,

There is an interesting audio slide show on the Southeast Missourian newspaper site today. It is a 1983 interview with longtime photographer G. D. Fronabarger talking about flood coverages.

http://www.semissourian.com/blogs/flynch/entry/40445/

There are several photographs of interest to modelers. These include:

a) a boiler-equipped EMD GP7 SLSF 559 with a southbound passenger haul in front of the depot,
b) a view looking north up the line toward the depot. I am guessing around the current depot at the foot of William St. Keith or others, perhaps you can clarify.
c) aerial view of Marquette Cement, Hely Crushed Stone and the tank farm near the old Leming Lumber Mill,
d) Central Packing
e) several downtown storefronts and some of the long-vanished building signs that used to reside below the still-in-existence Coca-Cola sign at Water and Themis Streets.

Enjoy!

Best

 

The opening of the new Frisco depot in Cape Girardeau occurred on March 5, 1921.

http://news.google.com/newspapers/p...AIBAJ&pg=2965,1226702&dq=Frisco+station&hl=en

 

Thanks to Tim Cannon for the copy of the Specification Order Sheet that Marquette Cement filled out when ordering the original GE 45-ton switch engine #4.

The sheet confirms to me that the engine was definitely a 45ton verses a 44ton. Builders number was #32388, with two Cummins HBI-600 diesels.

When Marquette decided to dispose of the Davenport and Porter steam switch engines they had, they leased a Frisco GE 44-ton switcher, SLSF 4, for a brief period of time before finally purchasing their own GE-45 ton switcher. *

I have a copy of the original order specifications that Marquette submitted to General Electric for the purchase. It was originally painted in a scheme to nearly match the black and yellow Frisco 44-ton unit.

When the plant was purchased by Lone Star Cement, it was repainted in a blue and white scheme with red trim and yellow handrails. That 45-tonner survived on plant property at least to July 17, 2011, when I took pictures of the switcher that supplanted it, an EMD SW1200, WPIX 330.

On that date, the 45-ton unit was still sitting on the plant property, but it looked like it was no longer in service.

Attached are copies of the documents and pictures I took of the GE 45-ton unit in 8/2009 and the EMD SW1200 in 7/2011.

* From the book by Louis Marre, Frisco Diesel Power, page 32.

 

The area where the Roberts, Johnson and Rand Shoe, later International Shoe Shoe, factory and Misssouri Utilities power plant were located north of downtown Cape Girardeau has radically changed recently.

Ken Steinhoff documents the change with aerial photographs in his blog. Please see the following links.

www.capecentralhigh.com

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape-photos/cape-downtown/isle-casino-cape-girardeau-clearing-starts/

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape-photos/cape-downtown/shoe-factory-to-cape-casino/

You can see more old photographs at the Southeast Missourian newspaper website using their search of old copies. Please see these links.

http://www.semissourian.com/story/1688267.html

http://www.semissourian.com/gallery/6570

 

More Marquette Cement images!

The attached sequence of pictures were taken by me on May 15, 1981, when Marquette made a huge single blast of rock.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0rIfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=etcEAAAAIBAJ&dq=cement plant quarry&pg=3368,1858120

The blast used 300 tons of explosives and loosed approximately 1.5 million tons of rock.

The last picture, supplied by Ken McElreath has the approximate volume of rock in the blast outlined in red.

 

No, I did not err.

They used 300 TONS of explosives.

The Southeast Missourian newspaper article at the hyperlink in my post confirms my memory of the event.

 

It really was not that loud.

As you can see I was relatively close. I have heard louder reports from the aerial barrage explosions on the Fourth of July.

Most of the energy was confined below ground. I think the sound from the mass of rock moved was greater than that of the explosives detonating.

It was an impressive display of raw power.

 

Keith,

Somehow I missed these pictures while we were on vacation.

I remember adults in Chaffee saying that they felt the blast when it happened, although maybe they were in Cape Girardeau, MO or Illmo-Scott City, IL at the time.

I also recall KFVS TV-12 using video footage of this as part of a video montage that opened their newscasts for quite sometime afterward.

Thanks very much for posting!

Best Regards,

 

Since posting the photographs, I found out through a source that the surface area on top of the blast zone was about six acres and about 250 feet deep.

 

Recently, another structure that housed a business served by the Frisco was razed on North Main Street as part of the new casino construction.

The building was the former Morrison Ice and Fuel Company, later the Riverside Fuel Company. It was still standing in April but was gone as of Tuesday 8/16/2011. It was just south of the International Shoe Factory, formerly Roberts, Johnson, and Rand Shoe, and appeared on Sanborn Maps beginning in 1908.

The founder, F. M. Morrison, also had a sand company at the location. I have no pictures of the building, but my friend, Ken Steinhoff, has a feature post in his blog, including aerials and ground level photographs of the building. Please see the following link.

www.capecentralhigh.com

Here is a link to the two articles about the area.

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape...le-casino-cape-girardeau-construction-update/

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape-photos/cape-downtown/morrison-ice-and-fuel-falls-to-casino/