I arose at the Depot Inn and Suites at La Plata and checked the status of the Southwest Chief, learning that it was over four hours late which really messed up our plans. Gene had boarded the train in Flagstaff and Nathan joined him in Kansas City, who were both coming out for the railfan weekend as well as to host Let's Talk Trains. Since they could not be here for the noon start time, I came up with a different plan, which was to use my phone card to do the show from the Pullman Suite rather than the lookout point.
So I ate breakfast then drove to Walmart in Kirksville to get a new card reader for my computer which solved the picture problem and I proceeded to write the first story until it was time to for the Let's Talk Trains show, which was a lot of fun. The question became would the Southwest Chief arrive before the show ended? The answer was yes. The show ended and I changed clothes for this evening's event, after which Nathan and Gene arrived at the hotel and it was good to see them both in La Plata at last. Once they put their luggage in their suites, we started our trip which would end up the Columbia Star Dinner Train.
We drove down to Moberly for two stops.
Randolph County Historical and Railroad Museum
Miloma (MILW "Indiana") 16 section sleeper built by Pullman in 1917 sold to Milwaukee Road, rebuilt into a business car, as GTLX 100 "Indiana". It was put on display here in 2011.
The Milwaukee Road Heritage is very evident. Now we will look inside this new acquisition.
What a beautiful passenger car this is. Now we will see what else they have on their property.
These pieces of equipment were here on my last visit.
Wabash caboose 2722 built by the railroad in 1942 had been repainted since my last visit.
The interior of the caboose.
An old crossing shanty that once served Moberly.
Now we went into the old Railway Express building that houses the unique collection of the Wabash Railroad. When we entered, we were greeted by the Mayor of Moberly as well as all the museum volunteers and the volunteers of the Magic City Line Railroad.
I photographed the real Norfolk and Western 1776 at the Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke.
A model of a Wabash steam engine.
Views inside the museum.
Wabash Railroad telephone board.
Railroad pictures on the wall.
Marker lights.
CTC boards.
More display cases.
Wooden carved train.
Another display train.
Diesels of the Wabash Railroad.
More views of this unique collection.
Station master's desk.
Another railroad display.
A Wabash Station heater.
One final Wabash display.
With one last picture of the Moberly Railway Museum, I walked out to get the van then picked up Nathan and Gene and we followed one of our hosts out to Rothwell Park where the "Magic City Line Railroad" is located.
