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| Pacific, MO |
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2012:
We arose to one of the best accidental findings of the trip: Pacific, Missouri
Pacific is a railfan hotspot, complete with park and visitor center that we barely knew existed - but should have. The
Trains "Hot Spots Guidebook" listed Eureka, the next town east. Close.
The
Route 66 Railfan Visitor Center is hosted by some great railfans who were as helpful as could be. The town also had some railroad and Civil War history to check out. We were sitting near the point where the
Missouri Pacific was vying for first transcontinental status and the
Frisco was born. That same history made it a target in the Civil War. The two roads in town were one once and Frisco split from a branch that originated here.
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| Pacific, MO |
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| Route 66 Railfan Visitors Center |
And, we found it all by chance. We asked Expedia for a motel in Eureka, but it found a better one in Pacific. We may not have found it otherwise except that we thought we might as well see what this town had for trains, since we were here already. So many ways we could have missed it all...
Back at the motel, we heard scanner chatter almost as soon as we turned the radio on. We reconnoitered the area and headed to
Hardee's for breakfast since it was handy. Charles spotted the visitor's center on the first pass through town and I couldn't miss the covered
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| Returning local. Pacific, MO |
picnic tables next to the tracks. We returned after eating and parked in the public parking between the old
Frisco and
MoPac lines. Our first stop was the visitors center. I thought it was just a well located hobby shop. Charles went in first and didn't come out. Curiosity led me in fairly soon after I determined that a train wasn't nearby.
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| BNSF GE's Pacific, MO |
The folks at the center were busy with organizing a fundraiser or something but they were exceedingly helpful with railfan information about the entire St. Louis area. A computer provided
ATCS information for both lines. I'm not one for crowds so I walked over to the shelter to wait on a BNSF train I thought would appear from the west. Charles stayed inside and got to know people. I also had a vague idea that an Amtrak "Missouri River" train from KC was around.
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| Pacific, MO |
The BNSF did come along, but far later than I expected and the Amtrak totally surprised me. I like the "old and new" paint schemes on the BNSF GE's. The fact that I managed to line up the Civil War Monument with the passing of a relatively speedy Amtrak train is mostly luck. It looks stopped, but wasn't. A returning local on the UP side gave a chance to try some new angles. This may have been the first train we heard earlier.
Unfortunately, without prior knowledge of this place, we didn't allow ourselves much time to stick around. It seemed like a waste of good info to move on. However, we both vowed to return with a vengeance. The St. Louis area has so much to offer railfans and the visitor center can help take the mystery out of such an adventure.
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| Ex-C&EI/L&N Nashville, IL |
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| Nashville, IL |
Down the road and over in Illinois again, we were tracking eastward over side roads again. We crossed many lines that existed or had been pulled up. At one point we stabilized on a route parallel with the
Evansville Western Railway. We pretty much followed it over most of its route, but saw no trains anywhere. We investigated many of its interchanges too. Nothing. However, the chase did get us into a couple of other sights that we might have missed otherwise.
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| National Railway Equipment |
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| National Railway Equipment, Mt. Vernon, IL |
Mt. Vernon, Illinois is the known home of National Railway Equipment. However, when we stumbled into it, I couldn't have told you that. I never made the connection until I saw the signs. Never have I seen such a collection of old relics. There were FM's, BLW's, MLW's, ALCO's and GE's mixed in the stuff laying around. Some of them had to be from the 1940's. We were following a string of diamonds and interchanges on "short range sensors" when I spotted this final shot below. That led us around the block to see what else was about. Very cool but the place seemed hostile with plenty of no trespassing signs and fencing.
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| National Railway Equipment, Mt. Vernon, IL |
We continued east, checking out the various rail lines we encountered but didn't find anything significant for the rest of the day. The last major railfan stop was Bluford (south of Centralia) where the old Southern crossed over the old IC. Interesting but little access, bad light and not trains so no photos. We were headed to La Grange, KY so we had some miles ahead of us. Nearby I-64 got us started toward Louisville. Interestingly, we passed the Indiana coal fields and even the massive pit where Peabody Coal came from. The SPV atlas showed enough convincing detail to confirm it. Too bad there weren't some of those Peabody yellow unit trains kicking around anymore...
BC
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