10/04/2023 Elizabeth and I arrived at our new home in Columbia and here are some photographs before our belongings were delivered.
The front of our house.
The soon-to-become library.
The fireplace in the living room.
Our office.
The bathroom.
The guest room.
The entrance way.
More of the living room.
The master bedroom.
The laundry room.
The master bathroom.
Our spacious kitchen.
The back door.
The garage, which completes the tour of our new home. That evening we stayed at the Drury Inn after eating dinner at Cracker Barrel.
10/5/2023 We went to the Bob Evans for breakfast before returning to the house. The Furniture Row order of two desks and my reclining car was delievered and the three boxes that were shipped separately arrived after which I drove us to Hartsburg where we met a man who invited us into his caboose. He was not sure of its history.
Three views of Bill's caboose.
The interior.
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The Katy Trail in Hartsburg. We went to Furniture Row to order some more furniture and ran some errands before having dinner at the International House of Pancakes then returned to the Drury Inn for the night.
10/6/2023 After a good breakfast at the hote, we came home to find the Allied Van Lines truck in front of the house so I parked down the street. Elizabeth took over, directing the crew where to put the boxes and I took some items to our local recycling drop-off station, which became a regular occurence for a few days. The movers had all 14,660 lbs. of our possessions unloaded by noon and we started the job of unpacking. Later I drove Elizabeth to the Katy Trail.
The Katy Trail in McBaine. We returned home then drove to Jefferson City and stayed at the Travelodge for the night since we had no bed until tomorrow.
10/7/2023 On this day, our bed was delivered and we continued unpacking, spending the first night in our new home.
10/8/2023 After a second breakfast in our home, we drove west to Boonville to find some stations.
Missouri-Kansas-Texas caboose 134 built by International Car in 1969. This caboose was on the last train that came through Boonville.
A plaque for the caboose.
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Boonville station built in 1912, the last station built of five in the Spanish mission style and is the last one standing.
A plaque on the station building.
A crossing signal in the front of this station.
This was an Eagle Scout project for a Boy Scout. From here I drove us to Casey's for petrol then we crossed the Missouri River to Franklin.
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Franklin station, which is at mile marker 189 on the MKT line. Franklin also served as a maintenance yard. The depot is over 100 years old and is now a campground along the KATY Trail hiking and biking path that runs over 225 miles.
The Missouri-Kansas-Texas turntable.
The emblem on the buiding. From here I drove us to Glasgow.
The Chicago and Alton Glasgow station built in the 1890's. In 2016, the restored depot became a museum.
The Kansas City Southern through-truss bridge over the Missouri River built in 1899 by the Chicago and Alton Railroad. In 1870, the St. Louis, Jacksonville and Chicago Railroad began construction on a line from Roodhouse, Illinois to Quincy Junction, on the East Bank of the Mississippi River. At Roodhouse, it connected to another StLJ&C mainline. Three years prior, the Louisiana and Missouri River Railroad constructed a line between Mexico, Missouri and the Mississippi River at Louisiana, Missouri.
The two railroads would finally connect in 1873, when a bridge would be constructed over the Mississippi River. An additional 163 miles to Kansas City would be built westward from Mexico in 1878, finally seeing completion in 1879. This line was constructed by the Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago Railroad. Both the railroads in Missouri would be under control of the Chicago & Alton Railroad from completion. In Illinois, the St. Louis, Jacksonville and Chicago Railroad would become fully absorbed by the Chicago & Alton in 1899.
The Chicago & Alton operated this route as a backbone type route, connecting Kansas City to the Mississippi River. In 1931, the Chicago & Alton would be renamed the Alton Railroad, and be operated as a subsidiary of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. This lasted until 1947, when it became part of the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad. The GMO operated this line until 1972, when they merged with Illinois Central to form Illinois Central Gulf; who operated this line until 1987.
By 1987, the line had deteriorated significantly. The line was sold to the Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway. This railroad failed very quickly, and by 1990, the line was spun off to Gateway Western Railroad. From 1990 to 1997, Gateway Western was an affiliate of Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. After ATSF merged to form BNSF, GWWR became a subsidiary of Kansas City Southern. Kansas City Southern fully dissolved the GWWR in 2001, and continues to operate this line.
Our journey continued to Slater.
Chicago and Alton Slater station which is a crew change point.
Kansas City Southern GP40-2 2970, ex. Kansas City Southern 4821, ex. Burlington Northern 3061, nee St. Louis-San Francisco 771, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1979.
Kansas City Southern GP38-2 2016, ex. Kansas City Southern 4019, exx. Kansas City Southern 2013, nee Boston and Maine 209, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1973.
The motive power consist. We proceeded to Marshall.
Chicago and Alton Marshall station designed by the architect Jarvis Hunt and built in 1906. It is a one-story, brick and stone building with Jacobethan Revival and Mission Revival style design elements and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The penultimate station of the day was in Nelson.
The Missouri Pacific Nelson station. Our day ended at Blackwater.
Wabash Railroad caboose 2229 built by the railroad in 1904.
Missouri Pacific Blackwater replica station built in 2008. The original depot was built in 1888 by the Missouri Pacific Railroad and was a busy and vital place in its early years. It was a ticket office for the railroad, a telegraph office and station to handle all mail and freight going through the area. The depot was torn down in 1973 and rebuilt in 2008, being used as an event space until present.
Elizabeth drove us home after we ran a few errands and had Jersey Mike's at our new home. That night we slept in our new bed for the second night.
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