With the Rock Island’s 1980 shutdown ending operations over the Rock’s St Louis line, the response to seeing a train on this bridge was very enthusiastic. The most common response we’ve received is “Wow, I’ve never seen a train on that bridge. What an awesome shot!” So with that in mind, here is the first of a series of shots that were not included in “Rails Around Missouri”, yet are worth seeing. Above is a shot of Rock Island train # 73 as it makes its way west across the Gasconade River bridge on February 15, 1975. Photo by Mark Nelson

“Rails Around Missouri” is a brand new hard cover book released on May 10, 2013 covering the history of railroads in Missouri. With 224-pages containing over 500 all-color photos like this one. The pre-release pricing has been extended, and your copy will come signed by the author. Choose between the KCS or Frisco cover (contents identical).

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Compare this shot with the one in the book