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

Ken,

Great photographs.

Looks like a fun industry to switch, and really seems to capture the spirit of Marquette Cement.

Undoubtedly, watching the local BN switcher work the plant, and chasing northbound BN freights from Chaffee to Cape does not seem nearly as scintillating as watching "Sunnyland" zip through.

Best Regards,

 

Folks,

A real dandy of a photograph from Fred Lynch's Southeast Missourian newspaper blog. His thumbnail link is below.

http://www.semissourian.com/blogs/flynch/entry/35297/

Some interesting points:

1) The photograph is definitely post-floodwall; the copy says it is from 1960.

Would this have still been the old 1920s-era brick depot between Merriweather and William Street?

2) Interesting train order signal. I have not seen any pictures of this searchlight-style before.

3) Any thoughts on what the last car in the train consist would be?

Here is also a link to the home movie of a train leaving Cape Girardeau, MO.

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

Best Regards,

 

Thanks for the input, Karl and Tom.

I will have to find an era-appropriate Rules of the Transportation Department to translate the flashing red or green signals.

Wonder how many times agents of all railroads faced perils from derailments like that?

I guess that great seats for seeing all of the action came with a certain degree of risk.

I think I would take my chances.

Best Regards,

 

Chris,

First, the old brick depot was situated at Merriwether and Main Street where the big parking lot now exists.

There are several pieces of evidence that the picture was taken before the brick Frisco depot was demolished in 1965.

1) In the background you can see the eastward kink in the floodwall.

2) The brick depot was situated between that kink in the floodwall and the Merriwether Pumping Station that was installed when the floodwall was built.

If the picture was taken after demolition of the brick depot, the group would be boarding at the newer Armco type building at the base of William Street on Aquamsi and the Merriwether Pumping Station would be visible in the background.

Compare these two images and the post card image below.

http://www.frisco.org/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=8802&d=1250570347

 

Hmmmmm. I see a future diorama project for my bucket list.

Has anyone scratch built the brick Cape Girardeau depot?

 

Jim,

I like your idea of scratch building the brick Cape depot.

While you are at it just build two! LOL I need one for my layout. And while you are at it, be sure to put your face inside one of the windows looking out!

I have a lot more pictures from nearly all angles of the exterior, but only one interior shot.

 

Jim,

I have always thought that would be a fun project.

There are plenty of pictures and a floor plan here in the "Depots" section.

Somewhere at home I will have to try and dig out a copy of a Missourian article from the depot's grand opening.

It goes into a lot of detail about the interior, including colors and the like.

Best Regards,

 

Looks as if I need to order some brick sheet siding and more windows.

I will build it as it appeared in the 1920s which is my modeling era.

Here we go!

 

More on the Cape Riverfront from the April 23, 1915 Railway Age Gazette.

“The St. Louis & San Francisco is now reclaiming a considerable area from the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau, Mo., permitting the straightening of the main line and providing more space for yard and team tracks. At the present time the river makes a considerable indentation at this point and the track follow closely around the foot of the bluff. The improvements consist of the construction of a concrete wall out in the river 600 ft. long at the north end and 600 ft. long at the south end with a heavy rip-rap wall 620 ft. long between. The area between this wall and the present tracks will be filled, after which the tracks will be laid on the new location and a new depot erected. A considerable area will also be given over to the city for park purposes across the track from the station and also immediately south of the station.

The concrete wall, which varies in height up to 37 ft., is of a plain gravity section 3 ft. wide on top, requiring a total of 11,000 cu. yd. of concrete. It was built in a maximum depth of water of 13 ft. The concrete was mixed adjacent to one of the tracks on shore, elevated by a tower and spouted into bottom-dumping buckets on a barge on the water. These buckets were then picked up by a derrick on the barge, lowered into forms and opened. The wall at the north end opposite the station is surmounted by an ornamental balustrade protecting a sidewalk.
The rip-rap wall which is located in the water for the entire distance is 6 ft. wide on top and has a maximum height of 20 ft., with a slope of 1:1 on each face. While the concrete wall is located parallel to the track with its top 3 ft. below the top of the rail, the rip-rap wall is located on the slope line some distance out in the stream with its top a maximum of 24 ft. below the top of the rail. On the completion of the wall and of the filling behind it, the slope above the wall will be paved with rip-rap on a 1 ½ : 1 slope.

This improvement which is estimated to cost about $240,000, is being handled under the direction of F.G. Jonah, Chief Engineer of the St. Louis & San Francisco.”

For reference, pictures from the article and some from the collection of James Haman are posted below.

A picture looking south about 1900 before construction.

http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?attachments/south-riverfront-1900-jpg.7397/

The first and second are looking south and north, respectively during construction. The third is of the balustraded wall after construction and the fourth is of the balustrade August 2009.
The last picture is from the old bridge showing both ends of the constructed walls and rip-rap and the resultant park areas and the new depot built in 1920. The next to last picture was taken before the current flood control was built along the entire riverfront.

Note: The old freight house depot is visible in the background of the first and last photographs.

 

Keith,

You might want to consider stocking up on Pikestuff parts for your soon to be constructed layout.

They have a bridge kit with separate parts for an Early Railings (4 50' Railing), part 628-0104, that with slight modification should make quick work of your Mississippi River front scene. Please see http://www.rixproducts.com/6280103.htm.

Hope this helps.

Thanks!

Mark

 

The west approach of the original river bridge was a combination of cast concrete and plate girder design:

 

Manny,

Ken McElreath, as I, was born in Cape Girardeau, and is an excellent modeler.

I hope that as I model Cape Girardeau on my layout I can approach what he has done with the Birmingham, AL area on his.

 

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

A story in the Southeast Missourian newspaper on the 100th Anniversary of local firm Penzel Construction includes an interesting Frisco related photograph.

http://www.semissourian.com/gallery/6619

Click on "Show All Photos", or click back to photographs #61 and #62 and then scroll to the bottom for a photograph of the old U.S. 61 Highway overpass that bridges the St. Louis Subdivision just south of Cape Girardeau, MO.

The first photograph is a contemporary view. You can see what used to be known as Marquette Cement to the north.

The bottom photograph is the same approximate viewpoint in 1929.

I think this location is just south of MP 135, perhaps around Rock Creek, MP 135.7. See Roger Taylor's compilation of stations and mileposts at the following link.

http://www.frisco.org/vb/showpost.php?p=8222&postcount=1).

My late 1970s track chart that Karl Brand provided to me some time when I was dumber than a bag of hammers is still packed away in the workshop at the new house.

Maybe other Scissorbill Country folks can confirm or clarify.

Best Regards,

 

Chris,

One correction; the upper, color photograph is looking northeast, the lower, black and white photograph is looking southwest.

The viaduct runs almost perfectly north to south and the tracks run northeast to southwest.

The angles in the black and shite photograph would dictate that the view is looking to the southwest.

 

International Shoe Company - Cape Girardeau, MO

Folks,

I could just about place this under "Operations" or "Freight Cars," but this seems like the best place.

For those interested in Cape Girardeau industries, or if you are simply looking to model a large, old style industry with limited trackwork, today's Southeast Missourian newspaper has a nice photograph essay of the "old shoe factory" in Cape.

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

The first aerial view picture shows the two sidings off of the Frisco's St. Louis Subdivision. I am intrigued by the gondola that is visible in the bottom of the photograph. It almost appears as if it has ties or some other sort of objects in it.

Would this have been spotted to ship scrap wood or leather, or was it placed there for later spotting at, say, SEMO Sand?

Another article on the history of this factory cites Dr. Frank Nickell, Director for the Center for Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University, as noting that "the factory produced 12,000 pairs of shoes daily, enough to fill a box car." This gives an aspiring modeler a good idea of the traffic generated by the plant in its heyday.

The name of the factory changed throughout the years. It was opened in 1907 as the Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoe Co., later becoming the International Shoe Co., and later Florsheim Shoe Co.

The building has been gone for 20 years now, and even the old bend in North Main Street that used to go around the south end of the factory is gone. At last check, I believe Isle of Capri is preparing to build a casino here.

Note that Keith Robinson, klrwhizkid, has included this industry as part of his Frisco River Division - Cape Girardeau Southwestern layout.

http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index....er-division-cape-girardeau-southwestern.2415/

Best Regards,