Trainweb 10th Anniversary Party in La
Plata Missouri
December 8 through 10, 2006
Copyright 2006 by
Richard
Elgenson
Our
route took us through rural Missouri with occasional small towns and
grain elevators along the railroad tracks. The first train
I spotted happened to be a Norfolk Southern. NS run through power
appears in Southern California regularly, mostly on the BNSF.
Further on up the road, Chris
suggested I photograph this barn.
Having to mail some important bills, we stopped in a small town to find
a post office. This NS autorack freight got to the crossing
before us.
Our goal was to meet
the TrainWeb crew in La Plata for a 6 PM dinner at the Red Rooster
Restaruant. Both Chris and
I needed one last break which occured in Moberly, 31 miles south of La
Plata. At Hardee's Restaurant, I noticed a Moberly town map from
the early 1900's which showed the town as a major division point on the
Wabash Railroad, a long fallen flag. The map showed a branch line
going north which I assumed crossed the Santa Fe main line in La Plata,
right near the Depot Inn and new TrainWeb office. The map showed
a large railroad yard in town. Even though the rail yard has been
downsized, it is still visible on Google Maps. One interesting
photograph showed
the Wabash hospital in Moberly. We got to La Plata and neither
one of us actually knew where the Depot Inn and Red Rooster Restaurnat
were. While at LAX, Steve Grande had showed me La Plata on Google
maps, so once we saw a sign for La Plata, we blundered our way first
finding the Amtrak Station and TrainWeb building. I remembered
the Depot Inn was across the tracks from TrainWeb, so we crossed the
railroad and soon found the Red Rooster Restaurant.
La Plata is a nice small town of 1486
people, in northern Macon County with a population of 15,762. We
found
about 20 people already there for the dinner sponsored by
TrainWeb. The post dinner party included waiting at the La Plata
Amtark Station for other attendees for the December 9th TrainWeb grand
opening dedication. After three false starts with westbound BNSF
freight trains, the westbound Southwest Chief finally arrived.
After returning to the Depot Inn, many of the TrainWeb associates
gathered in a meeting room for socializing and more food and dessert.
December 9, 2006
The TrainWeb crew all stayed at the Depot Inn & Suites in
La Plata
Missouri which is run by Tom and Kelly Marshall. They have gone
to great lengths to outfit the hotel inside and outside with railroad
memorabilia. I was fascinated with the yellow speeder car, having
had my first ride
on a speeder in June 2006 on the McCloud Railway in Northern
California. The Depot Inn has real railroad equipment outside
their front door. The lobby, pool area, and interior hallway have
more equipment, stock certificates, models and other memorabilia.
Of particular interest to me were the Penn Central stock
certificates. The book I have been reading, "The Men Who Loved
Trains" by Rush Loving Jr., is about the creation of Conrail out of the
egregious merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central
System to the splitting up of Conrail between Norfolk Southern and
CSX. It is very interesting and also covers the creation of
Amtrak.
Below left, the small building
between the overhead railroad crossing
device and the switch stand is the Train Party retail store.
After a continental breakfast on
Saturday December 9th, the schedule
called for train watching at the old Wabash overcrossing of the Santa
Fe main line. Tom Marshall, the owner of the Depot Inn drove a
group of us up the abandoned Wabash right-of-way to the northerly
embankment above the BNSF tracks. It was very cold and windy as
Tom told
us the short version of how the Depot Inn and TrainWeb got
together. He also told us of their plan for a "rail resort" which
would include a narrow guage railway connecting various parts of the
resort. Below left, from left to right, Richard Elgenson, Tom
Johnson,
Jonathon Ortiz, Chris Parker, Pat Moran and Tom Marshall. I
arranged for my camera to be on self timer, but
chose 2 second delay instead of 10 second delay. As a result, I
showed off my Red Wing boots and warm hat. In the
future, the northerly embankment of the abandoned Wabash right-of-way
will receive a heated and air conditioned building with railroad radio
frequency reception for train
watching. The TrainWeb building is about 600 feet away across the
BNSF tracks. The northerly abutment and retaining wall have been
demolished, most likely for reading of BNSF signals in the
distance. Tom Marshall also said the 60 to 80 trains passed
through La Plata every
day. While we were on the overlook, no train passed.
Everybody except for
Chris Parker and I left with Tom. Chris Guenzler and Carl
Morrison were on the highway overpass just to the east, so we
decided to join them. As we walked over, Carl left to check out
the Amish auction.
Below, the La Plata Amtrak Station is
on the right side of the tracks with a red roof. In the latter
part of this report, interior and exterior photographs are
presented. The TrainWeb headquarters is a white building on the
left side of the tower, also with a red roof. It is partially
obscurred by the remaining Wabash embankment on the left side of the
tracks.
Lower left, one the way over to meet
Chris Guenzler and Carl Morrison, we spotted our first Amish horse
drawn buggy. On the overpass, another passed us. Still, no
trains.
Chris Parker decided to go back to the Depot
Inn, so Chris Guenzler and I walked over to the TrainWeb building for
the festivities.
