I bet she's on her way past Brownwood. It's close in appearance to my little 4-4-0 #151. I know it isn't but I can pretend. That awesome depot at Cape is on my scratchbuilding "bucket list". There isn't very many images of it. All I've seen are taken from this same side. I've never seen any plans for it.
Re: Cape Girardeau, MO Rail-Served Industries ca 1964 Thanks to Mark Hall, a fellow model railroader here in KC who provided the bulk information from the Missouri Pacific, I created a summarized listing of the industries in Cape Girardeau that were served by rail in 1964.
Coca Cola sign on Vandeven's Mercantile Cape Girardeau For fans of Cape Girardeau, especially anyone who lived or lives there, or fans of Coca Cola, from the archives of Ken McElreath (kenmc), comes a picture of the Coca Cola sign that was on the west wall of Vandeven's Mercantile Company at the corner of Broadway and Pacific. If anyone wants a high res tiff file of it for decal production, let me know via PM.
Ah, memory lane. During my college days I lived just a few blocks north of there. Thanks for sharing.
Just moved to Cape from Chicago last week Monday. I saw this sign over the weekend when I was giving the grand tour to some early house guests. It would make a great addition to any model. GS
Yet another Coca Cola sign from the Cape Girardeau area, this one has been on the north side of a building (currently the Port Cape Girardeau Restaurant) since the late 1800's. Note the two different prices, 3 cents Plain or 5 cents (with coca). The photos are mine, and I also have this one ready for decal work.
Thank you very much for these, Keith. I have some photo prints of this sign, c. 1992, that I razored out and sanded down thin. However, my angle was such that the sign looks very trapezoidal. Much better job, your photo. Thanks for sharing,
Very neat; I think this is the first time I've seen a track chart with Gulf Junction still intact. Thanks very much for sharing. Best Regards,
I have the entire River Division track chart from around 1923. It shows all of branches as well. I need to make some good high resolution scans and prints. Brent
Another first...I think this is the only chart for Chaffee I've seen that shows the full complement of freight house/team tracks and the tracks to the east of the freight house (shown as the Scale track in this chart). I'd never realized that there were tracks in the latter area until I saw an old photo taken from the hill to the east - Tim, I think it may have been a photo in your collection. Thanks very much for posting! Best Regards,
I don't know whether the track chart is wrong, or perhaps the west side yard tracks and switches were relaid and relocated in later years, but when I visited Chaffee often in the 1960-1990 time frame, the yard ladder was reversed from that shown on the diagram. In other words, the ladder switches were all lined up diverging from the lead track that was parallel to the main line. I was fascinated by that arrangement and incorporated it into one of my layouts very successfully. The prototype advantage from an operational standpoint was that the switchman never needed to cross a track, and he was always in line-of-sight view from the engine cab. The model advantages are that all of the switch throws are along the front of the yard for easy access, and the tracking reliability of long cuts of cars is better because there are fewer s-turns at the turnouts. Ken McElreath
Good catch, Ken; I think you're right. Your recollection jives with an early Chaffee Real Estate Co. map I have, and with an aerial photo from Don Wirth: http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/chaffee-mo-yard-early-20th-century-map.1046/ http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index....o-yard-early-20th-century-map.1046/#post-5901 I wonder if they just got it wrong on the track chart? Thanks for explaining the prototype advances of the ladder switches; I'd always wondered why they were set up as they were in Chaffee. Best Regards,
I have a source that says JW Gerhardt built the Marquette Cement Plant (was called Eagle Portland Cement back then) and a railroad trestle for the loading of cars 40 feet in the air. I wonder if he built that nice old Marquette Office building and lab too (pic 6, middle of the 2nd row). I don't have a year for this; must have been between 1910 and 1923....
