Winter Greetings from the MP

Posted on by

Winter is here and Rails Around Missouri rolls on to another train show. This weekend, February 1-2, we’ll be at the Great Train Expo at the St Charles Convention Center, located on the south I-70 outer road just went of the 5th St exit. Show times are 10-4 both days. We have exactly 7 copies left with the Frisco cover, and 55 of the KCS. Supplies are running out, so don’t wait any longer!

Above, MP B23-7 #2259 leads a westbound freight through Eureka on January 10, 1979. The train has just crossed the Meramec River and is about to pass under Allen Rd and I-44 as it makes its way through the curve. Photo by Paul Dalman. Rails Around Missouri was released May 10, 2013 and is almost sold out. Get yours today before they are gone!

 

 

KC Train show this weekend

Posted on by

The Great Train Expo comes to Kansas City this weekend! Held at the Overland Park International Trade Center, the show is Saturday and Sunday December 28-29 from 10-4. HOWEVER, due to other commitments in St Louis on Sunday, Rails Around Missouri will only be at the GTE in KC on Saturday from 10-4.  Only a handful of the Frisco covers remain. Show price is $45, and I will be on hand to sign copies.

You can also order online with $8 USPS shipping. Merry Christmas everyone! Photo above by Ken Donnelley, taken in KC in December 1984 and is found in Chapter 3: Kansas City & Surrounding Area.

Busy Thanksgiving Weekend for Rails Around Missouri

Posted on by

Rails Around Missouri has a busy Thanksgiving weekend with 2 train shows in St Louis (Collinsville IL) and Kansas City.

First up is the Great Train Expo, Saturday 11/30 and Sunday 12/1 at the Gateway Center in Collinsville. Show times are 10-4. Photo above is by Daniel Schroeder, 7-14-80. Second is the Mid America Train Show Sunday the 1st at the KCI Expo Center, 9am-2pm. Photo below is by M Abalos, 9-84 in the Old Union Depot area of downtown KC.

The author will be on hand in Collinsville on Saturday, KC on Sunday. Staff will work the table in Collinsville Sunday, where pre-signed copies will still be available. NOTE- the Frisco cover version is down to 32 copies, KCS @ 100. The Frisco cover is expected to sell out this weekend. Copies will be available at both shows. Order online today to make sure you get a Frisco copy. Christmas is coming up! If it is a gift, please mention that in the PayPal notes to the shipper. Happy Thanksgiving!

Reflections of Sedalia

Posted on by

Rails Around Missouri rolls into Sedalia this Saturday, November 2, for the first annual Sedalia Rails Train Show. Doors open 830am until 3 at the Sedalia Convention Hall – Liberty Park. To mark this occasion, we present 4 shots of Sedalia submitted for the book. One is in the book, the rest are not.

” MP SD40s 728 and 3082 roll into Sedalia in July, 1974 on a westbound freight. With the MP in the midst of a renumbering, the 728 is soon to become #3028, as the MP was adding new SD40-2s in early 1975. (Terry Norton)

Next (below), MP SW1200 #1125 switches cars in Sedalia, also in July 1974. (Terry Norton)

 

 Sedalia was home to a large shops complex for the Missouri Pacific. In its later years, the shop built and maintained company cabooses and business cars. A string of freshly-painted MP cabooses sit outside the Sedalia shops in October, 1984, seen from a westbound Amtrak train as it passes by the shop. (Camille F Chappuis)

Rails Around Missouri was released on May 10, 2013 as a 224-page, hard cover book containing over 500 all-color photos like these. To see which photos in this post are included, see Chapter Seven, Central Missouri. Don’t wait! There are only 150 copies total remaining of Rails Around Missouri as of this posting. Order your copy today for $47.95 plus shipping, and it will come signed by the author. Choose between the KCS or Frisco cover. Contents identical.

Finally, a visit to Sedalia would not be complete without a look at the other railroad in town, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas. Sedalia was a division point for the Katy, and the railroad built a large, 2-story brick station here in 1896. Three Katy geeps lead as eastbound past the station in July 1974. (Terry Norton)

See what others are saying about Rails Around Missouri!

 

LaPlata reflections

Posted on by

This weekend “Rails Around Missouri” will be in LaPlata, MO for the Silver Rails train show at the Depot Inn. To commemorate that, here is a series of shots that are in and not in the book.

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway built through Missouri in 1887 on its way from Kansas City to Chicago. In the diesel era, the Santa Fe operated a fleet of premier, stainless steel, streamlined passenger trains from Chicago to Los Angeles. One such train, the El Capitan, was a bi-level coach class train, offered in counterpart to the all-Pullman Super Chief. The “El Cap” is seen stopped in LaPlata in this undated shot above.

Like almost every US railroad, the Santa Fe in 1971 handed over all passenger operations to the new federal carrier known as Amtrak. Originally working with ATSF-heritage “El Cap” bi-levels on ATSF lines, Amtrak supplemented and eventually replaced all of these cars with Superliner cars built by Pullman Standard. Seen from the N&W overpass, eastbound train #4, the Southwest Chief, departs LaPlata for Chicago on November 27, 1981. (Dale Hearn)

LaPlata is on the northern border of Macon County, and was host to the Santa Fe and the N&W. The Santa Fe was by far the busier of the two, seeing as many as 60 trains per day. On the same day as the previous shot, ATSF SD45 #5674 speeds an eastbound trailer train through town, assisted by three other EMDs and a GE. (Dale Hearn)

Dropping down the N&W line to Macon, we find high-hood GP38 #4131 leading train DM08 south on April 26, 1978. The train originated in Des Moines, Iowa, and was heading for Moberly. The line itself was built by Wabash predecessors in the 1870s and at one time hosted daily St Louis-Des Moines passenger trains. (Gary Roe)

Moving back to LaPlata, in a scene that is not in Rails Around Missouri, a set of Sante Fe passenger F-units lead a westbound freight under the Wabash line and through town on New Years Eve, 1962. (Photographer unknown) Finally below, present-day operator BNSF runs an Office Car Special eastbound through town on October 2, 2008. The Wabash/N&W/Norfolk Southern line is now gone, and the bridge removed. The railfan shed on the right sits on the former N&W right-of-way. (Mike Kelly)

 Rails Around Missouri is close to selling out! There are fewer than 160 copies remaining. Get your autographed copy today for $47.95 plus shipping. Choose between the KCS or Frisco cover. (Frisco version only has 70 remaining.)

See what others are saying about Rails Around Missouri!