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I am surprised by the count for Raleigh, NC. Local media, in reporting the grants awarded for transforming an abandoned warehouse into a new Raleigh train station, had reported that Raleigh was the 2nd busiest Amtrak in the southeast behind only Richmond, VA.
These figures do not support that claim...... unless you include suburban Cary, NC with Raleigh.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Thanks Yukon for the website. I find it amazing that the Kirkwood station in the St. Louis area handled over 57,000 passenger through their beautiful little station last year. It is on the national historic register by the way. Another remarkable fact about Kirkwood is that is is manned by volunteers. It is clean, warm, displays interesting memoribilia, and for us old timers, it is a nostalgic trip back to the past. Everything is pretty much original.
Posts: 140 | Registered: Nov 2008
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Yukon, I have not eaten at said steak house. I have folks coming in for a few days during the holidays so I may check it out. I might add I live about 75 miles south of St. Louis so I don't get there too often.
Thanks for posting the picture of KWD station. Do you maintain such a file on all of the stations on your website?
Posts: 140 | Registered: Nov 2008
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You stated that you live about 75 miles S of St. Louis -- do you live in or near Iron Mountain, MO? (thus your forum name?), where the Texas Eagle passes either through or very close to each night?
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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I don't have a website. I used Rich's link, above, to find the Kirkwood station. I placed the Kirkwood picture in "My Pictures" then used Photobucket to post.
If you ever get out to Calif. (or Alabama, Arkansas & Arizona), a good place for steaks is Ruth Crisp:
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RRRich I wasn't aware of the website but I am now. And what great pictures of KWD station. I still am amazed that such a busy and beautiful station is manned by volunteers.
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RRRich, I live in Farmington. The TE goes through Bismarck about 12 miles west of where I am. There has been an effort to get the TE to stop at Bismarck. Bismarck has a great old station that has been restored. A lot of money was spent. I don't know who spent the money. I have never been in the station and I am not sure what they are doing with it now.
At one time Bismarck was a hustling bustling railroad town. I believe that timber and lead were shipped from there.
Some of my contemporaries remember catching the train in Bismarck for St. Louis and returning the same way. It used to be good way to go to the city to see the Cardinals play.
Maybe the train will stop there again someday.
Posts: 140 | Registered: Nov 2008
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Iron Mtn -- oh yes, I see Bismarck now on my route maps of the TE, approximately 78 RR miles S of STL by my measurements. A few miles further south (my "MP 84") is a place called Iron Mountain -- is that your namesake?
I note that the TE also passses through the towns of Irondale and Ironton.
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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I am a bit of a history buff so forgive me if I provide more than enough information in reference to Iron Mountain.
Yes the TE still goes through those little communities, Irondale (pop445), Iron Mountain Lake (still mining iron) and Ironton (Pilot Knob Battle Ground). The railroad served Southeast Missouri and Arkansas.
Irondale is the little community where the incident took place that spawned the "Iron Mountain Baby" story and ballad (true story). It is a haunting story but turns out well. The Iron Mountain RR crossed the Big River at Irondale and that is where this baby was thrown from the train. This occured over a hundred years ago. Wikipedia has the whole story and all the lyrics of the ballad. I assume that the present UP route must cross about in the same spot.
The line split at Bismarck. The southeast line went to Charleston, Mo and connected with Cairo, IL. on the Mississippi River. The southeast line went through many small towns including Farmington and Fredericktown. An original depot is still standing in Fredericktown, about 18 miles south of Farmington. There was an abundance of lead mining, iron mining, and timber activity in the area. In fact one of the towns, Marquand, was a major railroad tie center. My grandpa hewed railroad ties with an ax. He was a real Ozark man.
In those days there still was a lot of yellow pine, the only native Missouri pine, which was prime timber for ties because of its durability (lots of resin). Missouri timber from the Ozark Mountains provided the bulk of the ties for the railroads for many years. The the big railroads from the East logged off the Ozarks three times. The yellow pine was replaced with white oak and hickory because of the intense harvesting.
I can still remember rail traffic on this line just south of Farmington. Of course since the Iron Mountain RR was no longer in existance after 1917 it was MoPac traffic that I was familiar with. And the only remnant is the road bed which is over grown with trees.
The south line went Poplar Bluff, Mo and on to Little Rock and beyond. This is the route that the Texas Eagle follows today.
One of the small towns on this route includes Ironton. It is the site of the battle of Pilot Knob. The Rebs caught and surrounded the Yanks who were in an earthen fort. This was a strategic target because of the rail road. Genral Price hope to gain control of St. Louis by controlling the rail road. After unsuccessfully (and foolishly) assaulting the Yankees repeatedly the Rebs waited. Unfortunately for them the Yanks managed to sneak out in the dark and escape. They left a time delay fuse on the powder mag in the fort. You can view the fort and crater caused by the explosion yet today. There is an excellent museum and park there. A battle reenactment is held every 5 years. It was a Southern victory but too expensive in number of southern lives lost (hundreds). I will never understand massed infantry assaults on fortified positions.
Further south on the southern branch of the Iron Mountain RR is the site where Jesse and his cousins robbed an Iron Mountain train. I think it is called Gads Hill. You can still visit the site. The Daltons also got in on the train robbery act.
My connection to Iron Mountain is through my family history. Grandpa cut timber, drove mules (mule skinner) and mined lead. Most of my great uncles, uncles, and my dad worked for St. Joe Mining company at one time. Most of the older ones rode on the Iron Mountain or provided ties or ore for the rail road. Those folks go back 200 years in this area.
So I go by Iron Mountain in honor of the kin folks and the region.
Ocala Mike, Ballwin is in the St. Louis metro area on the southwest side. It is about 75 miles from where I live.
Posts: 140 | Registered: Nov 2008
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Iron Mountain: If you find it, read a book titled Under the Black Flag. Initially written about 120 years ago by one of the ex-Confedrates from Missouri.
For all, The "Iron Mountain" was in full the SLIMS, that is St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern, main line St. Loouis to Texarkana with branches to Memphis, Hot Springs AR and a few other places. It was taken over by the Missouri Pacific many years back.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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Thanks for the history, Iron Mtn!!! I have not yet done my railroad guide for the TE route, but when I get around to it (it's not on my priority list at this time, but I'll do it sometime -- that is, if the TE is still around by the time I do it!), I will add these bits of information to it.
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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George, Thanks for the book recommendation. I have not read it but I will. I have read "Bloody Bill Anderson". It covers Anderson's guerilla exploits well. For the record, one sixth of all Civil War battles were fought in Missouri. With a few exceptions, such as Wilson's Creek, the second major battle of the war, most were much smaller that the those fought in the East.
Posts: 140 | Registered: Nov 2008
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Yukon, I saw this article on the internet this morning and thought you and many of the "station buffs" would find it interesting: If you go to stltoday.com and type "kirkwood station" in the search box it will take you to articles in the current Stl Today paper and the subsequent Kirkwood Station article.
I have to wonder if any other stations are manned by such commited and determined volunteers?
Posts: 140 | Registered: Nov 2008
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A couple of other restoration projects I find interesting:
The revitalizing of the Sandpoint, Idaho station which once served the Northern Pacific RR. It now is just an Amtrak platform, the inside of the station is not in operation:
Sandpoint is in a beautiful part of the country, I only wish the arrival times, for both the eastbound and westbound Empire Builder, were at a more decent hour.
Another nice restoration project is the station in Barstow, Calif:
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If this is going off too much on a tangent, let me know and I'll post another link, but I am always deeply disturbed when I see that decaying giant of a station by Buffalo NY (now sometimes used on Halloween, I hear) or stop at Grand Junciton and see the decaying old station there (if you go around the back, you can peek in and still see a stained glass window). The way we let so many things in this world decay is truly disturbing.
OTOH, a very lovely station that had been recently renovated but I believe was re-damaged in Hurricane Sandy is the south Hoboken Terminal--train & ferry--lovely Beaux Arts building. It is not an Amtrak station but is used by NJ Transit as well as other local transportation (and the ferries).
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Ms. Sojourner, in addition to the two structures you note, the most eyesore of eyesores is the Detroit Michigan Central Station. But more to the point, too many of these dacaying artifacts are associated with the railroad industry's now-reversed decline and fall.
While unrelated to industry affairs, the following article appeared in the Wall Street Journal yesterday:
Kent State's hilly campus is flanked by a small business district, part of an idle railroad town known for the black squirrels darting around town. After about two decades of planning, a $106 million revitalization effort, including a hotel conference center and transportation hub, is under construction now, partially subsidized by university funds.
While the most merciful thing that could happen to these structures is the wreckers ball as they will never see use again, they remain and give to the public a completely false impression of an industry that has enjoyed a renaissance in the past thrity years (ironic how I mark the beginning of the industry's rebirth with my departure from it).
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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to Iron Mountain -- on 11-/16/2012, above, you posted some interesting and valuable information on the route of the Texas Eagle through the Missouri Ozarks. I am currently working on my railroad guide for that route, and have used the information you supplied me on this forum! Thanks again for your info!!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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