Next we will go into the Farm and Mining section of this museum.
Farm equipment and tools.
Many items are seen as you move through this very interesting museum.
The mining section of this museum.
Two models of mining.
An Aeroflame stove.
Coal mine blacksmith's shop.
Tools of the miners.
Blacksmith's hood, sewing machines and a calendar display.
A great set of antlers.
Miner's lights.
A railroad crossbuck.
Miner's equipment.
Coal model and train cars.
Coal Mining 1880-1966 map and Billy Creek Coal Mine display.
A fish hoop net.
A railroad switch stand.
An old telephone switch stand, which ends our visit to the Novinger Coal Mine Museum.
From here Steve, Barbara and I walked over to the Novinger Homestead.
The old Novinger Jail.
The Isaac and Samuel Novinger family home circa 1948.
The Novinger Homestead Souvenirs building.
Francisa and Charlotte {Quintel} Reese Homestead.
A mine car display and track.
The outhouse at the Novinger Homestead.
I drove back to La Plata and stopped by the Depot Inn & Suites for a few minutes then went to Trainweb.com where Shivam did a few things to my computer. From there I drove to my next stop of Shelbina, Missouri, learning on the way that my dog Clyde had died yesterday. I will truly miss my old friend and when I clean the pool, it will not be any fun without my dear dog Clyde.
Northeast Missouri Old Threshers Steam Engine
I drove in and found Bill Smith working on the locomotive which was Solvay Process Works 0-4-0T 57 built by Alco-Cooke in 1923. It was sold to Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation 57 in 1947, then sold to Rail City, Incorporated in 1955 then was acquired by Leo Smasal of Sedalia, Missouri in 1992. In 2008, it moved to Shelbina.
Two more views of the engine which is lettered today as the Nemo Express.
This former box car is the passenger car they use. While we waited for the steam to build up in the engine after we loaded wood aboard and he stoked the firebox, Bill and I visited their depot/museum trailer after I took a picture of the school.
The old Shelbina school house with the original desks that had initials carved in them by schoolchildren, a few of whom are still alive.
The steam engine when it arrived on the grounds in 2008.
I've been working on this railroad.
Shelby County Herald story about the engine.
Track gang equipment.
This boiler came from the Mississippi River dredge "Sainte Genevieve".
The Threshers own a lot of unique equipment. We returned to the engine but it still needed to build more steam so I loaded more wood and Bill stoked the engine. After that, I ran over to Casey's for a Coca-Cola before we returned to watch the boiler pressure continue to grow. Once it was over 40 pounds, Bill pulled the reverser back and the engine started to move backwards to near the end of the track where Bill stopped it and I detrained for a picture.
The train at the north end of the track.
Bill, my engineer, in the cab of this unique locomotive. Once I was back in the cab, Bill started the engine forward and we started down the track towards the east end.
Two views of the train heading south.
The inside of the cab.
Taking the southwest curve on the property.
A look back to where we had been.
About to take the southeast curve on this railroad.
We reached the end of track.
Near this end of track we stopped for a picture.
The present end of track. When I got climbed back into the cab, Bill could not get the engine to move and we realized that in our haste, we forgot to load more wood to get the engine back. Bill decided to leave the engine there so we ended my trip on this unique railroad and I needed to get back to La Plata and Bill needed to be in Paris, Missouri this evening.
My last views of the train before so we walked back to the van and I thanked Bill for this unique adventure aboard this railroad in Shelbina. I drove back to La Plata to the Depot Inn & Suites and took Steve and Barbara back to the Amtrak station to catch the Southwest Chief which was running twenty minutes late this evening.
The travellers and friends at the La Plata Amtrak station.
BNSF 4727 East came through before Amtrak arrived.
Still waiting!
The Southwest Chief arrived and I helped load their luggage aboard then went to get pictures of the rear of the train.
After a double spot, the Southwest Chief left La Plata for points west.
The conductor waving good bye to me.
Rail Ventures' dome-sleeper "Bella Vista" was one of two private cars on the rear of the Southwest Chief tonight.
Southern Railway 1 was the other.
The Southwest Chief headed out of La Plata and I drove back to the Depot Inn & Suites. The camera would not transfer the pictures into the computer so I would have to run up to Walmart in the morning to solve this problem. Since I could not write this story, I called it a night.
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