I met John Green in the lobby of the Depot Inn & Suites and headed out to the rental car which had its windshield iced over. We defrosted it using the windshield cleaner then headed up the road to McDonald's in Kirksville for a good meal of hot cakes and sausage to start my day. From there, we headed to Downey to shoot a new train station in the great state of Missouri.
The Keokuk and Western (predecessor of Chicago, Burlington and Quincy) station in Downing, Missouri built in 1872. Originally chartered in Missouri as the Alexandria and Bloomfield Railroad Company, by Special Act of February 9, 1857, the act called for the building of a railroad from Alexandria, Missouri, in the direction of Bloomfield in the state of Iowa, to the northern boundary of the state of Missouri. A subsequent Act on February 19, 1866, changed the corporate name to the Alexandria and Nebraska City Railroad Company. On March 2, 1869, the Missouri legislature passed a general law authorizing any railroad company in Missouri to consolidate with a railroad company of an adjoining state. The railroad that consolidated with the Alexandria and Nebraska City Railroad was the Iowa Southern Railway, chartered in 1866 and supported by Centerville, Iowa booster Francis Marion Duke. With the combination of the Alexandria and Nebraska City Railroad Company and the Iowa Southern Railway, the Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska Railway Company was created under general laws of Iowa and Missouri.
Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska Railway Company went into receivership on July 1, 1885 and was sold at foreclosure on August 19, 1886. After the sale, the line became the Keokuk and Western Railroad. On January 1, 1901, the line was bought by the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy and was combined with the Humeston and Shenandoah Railroad to corm a line stretching form Keokuk, Iowa to Shenandoah, Iowa.
Grade crossing sign and stone whistle post.
Maintenence worker's cart. From here we drove to West Medill.
BNSF 7133 East at West Medill. We then drove out to County Road MP 285.45 west of Revere.
Union Pacific 7975 West at County Road C, MP 285.45 west of Revere. A BNSF crew was going to close the crossing so we left before they did and went to the second bridge west of Revere.
BNSF 5053 West at the second bridge west of Revere. Next we went back to Wyaconda to a new crossing at County Line Road to take pictures and missed another BNSF train as we arrived just a minute too late. With a cold wind and 39 degree temperature we would return here during warmer weather.
The views from the County Line Road grade crossing. From here we crossed the old bridge on Sycamore Lane then turned right on Colt Lane to the grade crossing and parked.
BNSF 5053 West at Colt Lane. From here we moved to Hicks Road at the Gorin Crossovers.
Gorin, Missouri.
BNSF 6890 West at Hicks Road in Gorin.
Amtrak Southwest Chief was only 35 minutes late this morning at Hicks Road in Gorin.
BNSF 6850 East went through here.
BNSF 5057 West.
The old smokestack in Gorin was built in 1906 as a facility of the Prairie Oil and Gas Company. From here we went to Powell Road but missed the turnoff. We got to the crossing just missing two more BNSF freights. That is ninth train I missed on this trip.
Here is the rear of the second train we missed at Powell Road. We waited for forty minutes but with no trains, this officially ended the 2016 La Plata Spring Railfan Event. Thanks to John Green for attending. We stopped Rutledge to wash the rental car then drove to Colton Steakhouse in Kirksville where I had a Top Sirloin steak for an early dinner. After returning the rental car to the Depot Inn & Suites, I washed my clothes and wrote this story then packed and listened to the Penguins vs. the Ottawa Senators gane. Kris Letang got his 49th and 50th assists of the season in the 5-3 win by the Penguins. I watched "NCIS" and "Agents of Shield" then put the corrections in my story and called it a night for the last time in La Plata for this trip.
Dead Animal Tour 3 was 25 on the highway and one by the tracks! This is a joke!
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