Greetings from Day 1 of the MCoR NMRA meet in St. Louis! I have posted a few snapshots in the gallery: * The Webster Groves Frisco depot is now used by a model railroad club, and BNSF tracks pass by right outside. * I paid my respects to the 1522 at the Museum of Transportation, and along the way discovered a tri-level auto rack. Hobby Shop report: Mark Twain Hobby Center in St. Charles has a great selection in multiple gauges, as well as r/c models and more. Iron Horse Trains in Washington has a large layout (shown on YouTube!) and a friendly owner. Oh, and he has 3 Athearn Genesis Frisco GP15-1's available! The town is picturesque, right on the river, and has nice depot structures and Amtrak service. Oh, and if you like great bridges, there's the Route 47 crossing of the Missouri River - two narrow lanes of fun! I was disappointed to find that Switch Stand Train Shop was closed today, though it looks like a nice shop. I hope the schedule will allow me to visit again. The Webster Groves depot was a surprise catch - I caught a glimpse of it as I zipped down the interstate, so I took the next exit and then photos. After leaving the Museum of Transportation, I spied "Frisco Lines" stamped into the concrete pillar support just below the plate girder bridge where the tracks fly over I-270 just south of Exit 7 / Big Bend Road. Speaking of the Museum, they've made a lot of improvements since my last visit. The admission / visitor center / gift shop is brand new, and the automobile display up the hill is a chrome-filled blast from the past.
Bruce, while you are in the area, you need to backtrack on Big Bend to cross back west of I-270 to Barberry Lane (2nd left off Big Bend after crossing 270) There you will find the Meramec Highlands Station http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?1917-Meramec-Highlands-Station&p=13261#post13261. It's worth the trip just to see first hand.
Bruce, Glad that you're enjoying the St. Louis area. It's a mecca for railroading. Ken Wulfert and a few others could explain it's exact location better than I, but there's a railroad overpass in Shrewsbury that still has "Ship it on the Frisco" painted on the girders. I'm also glad that you got to meet Brian Gansereit at Iron Horse Trains in Washington. He really is a super nice guy and I'm happy to give him my business when I can. Don't know if you got to go inside of the Amtrak station there, but they have a nice little static display of O gauge trains, namely Mopac, MKT, and KCS passenger trains. Washington is a beautiful town with a nice riverfront park that perfect for train watching. About 60 Union Pacific trains pass through there everyday. Pat Moreland, Union Mo.
Bruce, since you are staying at Watson & Lindbergh, you need to head east on Watson a couple of miles to see that overpass that Pat is talking about. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou....580647,-90.325148&spn=0.009058,0.016458&z=16 You won't be able to miss it. Then continue east on Watson to the Des Peres Parkway. Go north on Des Peres Parkway to Landsdowne. Turn left at Landsdowne and you will see the other Frisco overpass in Shrewsbury. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou....592388,-90.320266&spn=0.004528,0.008229&z=17
Don't forget to take a look at Lindenwood Yard as well. It is not anything like it used to be, but still worth seeing. Lots of BNSF pumpkins there now. Ken
... and for what it's worth, an occasional Warbonnet or "Blonde" SF unit, though none have gone by in the last 24 hours.
Keith, Pat, Ken, & George, Thank you for the tips! That's what I really enjoy about this great group of Frisco Folks! So far, Day 2 has had two themes: 1) Rain, and 2) Too many activities. Our prototype tour this morning was at Gateway Rail Services, Inc. - formerly Illinois Transit Assembly Corp. This company does heavy overhaul of passenger cars, and I've been checking their inventory online for years. President Roger Verbeeren, Jr. gave us a first-class tour, showing us several cars in progress and several shops. The rain lightened up at the end just long enough to allow us to tromp around their yard. I didn't spot any Frisco cars, though I overheard that Cimarron River has been worked on there in the past. My favorite sights were the Mark Twain Zephyr, numerous California Zephyr cars, and Santa Fe Hi-Level car Mesa Verde. Back at the hotel, I heard a presentation by Dave Roeder on "Layout Design: Kirkwood Cutoff" - mostly MoPac, but some Frisco in there, too. Then I attended Bill Darnaby's presentation on "TT&TO Operations." Tony Koester was in attendance at this one, too. I missed Tony's presentations, as they were scheduled while we were at Gateway. Too many good activities! Illinois-area layout tours are going on until dinner, then evening-time tours will be in north St. Louis.
Now for Day 3: Prototype tour: UP DeSoto Car Shops. We saw the whole process of building and attaching an AutoFlex tri-level (adjustable to bi-level as needed) auto rack. My favorite moment - seeing the stacks of decals ranging from the TTX logo to the huge UP Shield. Oh, and the buckets of Armour Yellow paint. Clinics: I got to hear Tony Koester speak about multi-deck layouts. He always has great stories and so much expertise. Layout tours of South St. Louis: * Rene Lavoise - HO Sedalia & Warsaw - after looking at this spiffy MoPac-based layout, Rene coached me on how to use switch lists. * Brian Post - HO Sierra Nevada & Indian River - Brian has some great scenery - including a gigantic corn field. * Ken Patterson - G Rio Grande + HO MoPac - Ken's garden layout has a spectacular view of barge and rail traffic ... and his indoor layout mimics that. * Gary Gross - HO Franklin & Pacific MP, SLSF, & KCS - Gary has ingeniously used helices to pack a lot of railroad action into his condo. Gateway NMRA has 39 layout tours, and they've conveniently scheduled them by region. Each layout location has a yard sign with the classic yellow and black railroad crossing warning circle. In addition, there's a spiral-bound directory with maps, addresses, and layout descriptions. I also found a spare half-hour to check out Switch Stand Train Shop - a variety of HO and lots of Lionel, and Roscoe's a friendly fellow.
Everyone's tips created a fantastic day of railfanning in St. Louis. Before leaving the convention, I had a chance meeting with Jerry Hurt. We visited for a while in the parking lot - I enjoyed meeting him. Jerry pointed me in the direction of the Watson Road overpass, and I photographed it from a lot of angles. A short drive beyond was another Frisco-painted overpass at the Metrolink light-rail terminal. Next I went in search of Lindenwood Yard ... everyone had told me "you can't miss it," but there's a bridge out - be sure to look at the two hilarious photos of the flashing electronic construction sign. This detour plus Jerry's tip allowed me to find an old Frisco employee's parking lot at the corner of Wabash and Marquette. There's a now-closed pedestrian bridge over I-44 to the yard office. I had fun snapping photos of the BNSF pumpkin, yellowbonnet, and some red-and-white Terminal Railroad Association locomotives at work. Keith's Google Maps links went right into my phone and provided street addresses, permitting a view of the lovely Meramec Highlands Station (nicer than I imagined - a great home!) ... and there are lots for sale on that street, overlooking a great mass of trees obscuring the two BNSF tracks. Then it was on to the Kirkwood Amtrak station - what a gem! I didn't catch any trains there, but it was nice to see a class reunion in progress. The most unexpected tip came from a TV commercial: St. Louis Science Center's Omnimax theater is hosting Rocky Mountain Express. Fantastic! Go see it! My thanks to everyone for the great information. That's what's so great about this site and this group!
Had a GREAT time at the show also. Glad there were so many layouts on the tour, got to see all but six of them. The clinics were nice too. I would like to thank all the people that opened up ther homes to us for such a good time. Mike.P
