Houston House, Newburg

I'll be heading down to Rolla this Friday & Saturday for some chemical engineering Academy meetings and to participate in the dedication of our new Chemical Engineering Department building at Mo S&T. Does any one know if the Houston House will have any open hours Friday or Saturday?

I never go to Rolla without running down the hill to mp 119.1 for a Newburg fix!

Ken

 

I think they have a "soup kitchen" on Thursdays, but don't know of any other hours. I think Newburg has a Facebook page,maybe you can find out there.

 

I had a real great trip to Rolla, and Newburg, this past Thursday (10/16) thru Saturday (10/18). The weather was spectacular.

Unfortunately, the Houston House was closed Friday afternoon when I visited down there. Too bad, I had some Frisco stuff for them. Here are a few pics I took of Newburg, the Houston House, the "corner bar", and the main line.

- The Houston House is looking a lot better than it did the last time I visited (3 years ago). The town looks about the same, real sleepy, but I certainly noticed they have two new police cars that were roaming around - about the only traffic. That's my Audi in front of the Houston House - the police kept driving by and giving me a look as I drove around town taking pictures. They never stopped me though, but on the way back up to Doolittle, one of them had a car pulled over with the lights flashing. Newburg is turning into a police state!
- The corner bar is under new ownership obviously, and is reopened. That's The Branch (a small stream that drains into the Little Piney) flowing under the corner bar. Kind of unique!
- The famous milepost 119.1 - Newburg, MO, on the Frisco Eastern Division. And, views up the main line looking east to St Louis (town on the left, Rolla Hill coming up), and looking west to Springfield (town on the right, Bundy Junction, then Dixon Hill coming up). The former Frisco Newburg yard was across the tracks from the town.
- Stopped by the Newburg Museum to check up on ex-NEO cab SLSF 1111. She is looking a bit ragged right now. The police car was parked up the street to the left of me, looking at me. Easy guys!

I'll post a couple of Rolla pics in a minute.

Ken

 

Most of the pics I took in Rolla were of our brand new Chemical Engineering/Biochemical Engineering building at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Mo S&T) - we dedicated it Friday, 10/17. But, here are a few Frisco pics I took. I didn't see a single train over the three days, but I heard some at night. I felt like going down to the depot at 8:20pm to see Number 9 come in, like what we did in the old days for a study break, but I knew that would be a waste of time!

o Here's the Frisco main looking east toward the town center and St Louis, taken from the "old wooden bridge", now a historical protected structure. Next is the view west from the same bridge down toward Rolla Hill and Newburg. This is the same spot where, 50 years ago (Feb, 1964), I took snapshots of Number 3 coming and going under the bridge after its Rolla depot stop, behind E8 SLSF 2007 and a mate. Those are posted somewhere on frisco.org. Overall, the railroad looks to be in pretty good shape, and the rails are shiny.
o My old friend SLSF 1501 is looking a bit weary, and looks the worse because many of her parts are missing. (I used to go over to the park and lake where 1501 is to study in the spring, plus we played some baseball there).
o Here's a pic of the front of the new ChE building - state of the art. I'm proud of it. Back in 1960-1964 when I was a ChE student here, we often said we needed a new chem engineering building. Well, we have it now!

On the way back home yesterday (10/18), I stopped at Cuba and ran down Mo 19 to see how far down the old Salem/Lead branch still ran. The industrial area in Cuba looked like it still gets regular rail service, and the tracks looked OK, but once you get out of town, though the track is still there, it looked like there had been no action for some time. Lots of weeds. I only ran down the road for about five miles from Cuba. Anybody know how far down trains run now? Do they still serve Steelville?

Ken

PS - I don't understand how our web page orders pictures that have been posted. The shot towards Rolla and St Louis (curves to the left) is the second one posted, though I attached it first. The shot down Rolla Hill towards Newburg (curves to the right) is posted first, though I attached it second. Go figure!

 

Gordon -
I was there for the first time in the late fall of 1960, my first semester at MSM. I have told this story before. Four of us went down to Newburg on a Sunday evening for dinner as none of the usual student eateries served that night - you were at the mercy of the restaurants and fast food places. That was the first time I ever saw Newburg, and I went "wow" when I saw the depot and the yard! Even better, when seated at the Houston House, we each ordered the cheapest steak they had on the menu - T-bones for each of the four of us. That's all we could afford. Mrs Noland herself took our order. A few minutes later she came back to our table and told us she only had one or two T-bones left. But (she was a retired teacher and loved MSM students - we kept the place full every Sunday night), what she would do is give us each a Porterhouse steak at the same price. Ever since I have had a warm spot in my heart for that place, for Mrs Noland, and for Mrs Houston, who by then was confined to a wheelchair. They had the best ever home-made biscuits and apple butter.

On subsequent visits, Mrs Noland gave us a quick tour and showed off some of their railroad pictures, artifacts, and their guest log. Great memories. Hope the place can stay alive for many more years.

Ken

 

Those are some really great Stories Ken. Even though you were perhaps considered a hoodlum of sorts by the local Gestapo huh? You were obviously up to no good with your camera in hand LOL.
What is the ruling grade on Rolla and Dixon hills?

 

Tom -
The two big hills out of Newburg, which sits essentially on the floor of the Gasconade river/Little Piney river valley, are Dixon Hill, 1.9% westward and Rolla Hill, 1.1% eastward. Another tough one is Iron Hill, 1.2% westward, climbing up to St Clair, closer to St Louis. The difficulty of these hills is enhanced by the fact that they all have several curves that really take the wind out of the locomotive(s). Dixon Hill originally was much worse, but it was improved significantly by a famous project to relocate much of the climb, which was done during the WW2 period.

There was a nice summary article on the Ozark plateau grades of the SLSF, MP and KCS in Trains about ten years ago.

Ken

 

Sherrel - Like you, I hate getting older as well. And, boy do I feel it! More aches, pains and problems seem to be coming every year now. My latest is A-fib.

But, aging beats all known alternatives. I want to keep having birthdays for a long time yet!

K

 

Yep you gotta be tuff to get older for sure, when I just turn around and throw my back out for a week, well that didnt happen when I was 20 or 30 or now 40 wait 50+ years old. LOL.
All I know, is the older I get, the better I used to be.

 

Here's a couple more pics from Newburg last week I forgot to post. The Lyric Theater appears to be live and well, as does the building next door (I forget its name).

Ken