St. Louis Railfanning

[Anonymous]

I'll be in St. Louis for a couple days this week, what are a few of the top railfanning spots that are worth checking out?Thanks.

[CShaveRR]

I'll say it again: the Amtrak station at Kirkwood, west of the city.

[Hawks05]

if he is ever on here, railpac is the man to ask.

[gabe]

I think the East side is the real treat. You have to watch where you go, as it would not be worth watching a resurected T-1 pull a roadrailer if you are dodging bullets. But if you have the time Granite City (20 minutes in no traffic) has some great spots that have incredible traffic density and several lines converging on one spot.

Good luck,

P.S. I think Union Station is worth checking out as well.

[Anonymous]

I have to agree, Kirkwood is the place to go. Also, north of Granite City at a place called Mitchell, is Lenox Tower, still in operation and the junction of NS,KCS,UP, and A & S.

[espeefoamer]

All I know is,stay away from East St.Louis unless you are bringing your own army.

[wabash1]

people keep saying stay away from east saint louis. Why? Do you have first hand exsperance ( good or bad) about this place. have you ever been there? DO you even KNow why it has a bad reputation? Or are most of you Just respreading the horror storys of the past...and by the way they most of them wasnt true either.

[gabe]

Wabash1

Actually, yes I am speaking from personal experience regarding the danger of East St. Louis (lived 30 minutes away for 23 years). If I am knocking your hometown or something, I appologize and I realize there are parts of East St. Louis that are probably a wonderful place.

However, you can get in a bad neighborhood in a hury. Aside from personal experience, have you seen the crime statistics? Washington DC is the only place that consistently beats it out as the crime capital of America (Sorry to disregard your thought on "truth" but I think I am going to trust the government on this one). Furthermore, I don't think I have read a trains magazine article--or any article--that hasn't talked about their experienced problems they faced while documenting/photographing.

I am sure there are a lot of good people there, but to answer your question: yes, it is that bad. I like rail fans; they are good people; I don't want to see them shot.

Now, if we could only get those in favor of another round of rail mergers to go visit the place.

[wabash1]

GABE

Well as usual the outsiders only looking at what they want to see. Yes they have crime and yes there is killings but no differant than any other town. Show me the prof of one town that dont have any theft , any burglery , domestic violance. I will even drop it to just burglery. Killings it happens evey day just about any where in the united states. and i will say that east st.louis is not in the top 10. but as the goverment does it they do venice love joy brooklyn washington park cahokia etc. they combined all this into the east st.louis crime stats. Its like this you go somewhere looking for trouble and you will find it. ive spent alot of time in east st.louis and never been bothered.

[bnsfkline]

I am the man.... NS Luther Yard, Lenox Tower, KIRKWOOD!, Webster Groves, Lindenwood yard...All are the best.....Kirkwood and Dupo are the best known

[UPTRAIN]

Johnny Railpac is the man to ask, he has a site with the title of this topic for God's sake...his site is http://www.stlouisrail.tk/ and mine is Semo Rails, listed on his homepage!!! VISIT THAT TOO WHILE YOUR THERE FOR MORE MISSOURI RAILFAN LOCATIONS!!!

[Anonymous]

YO YO, look who is back y'all! [:p][8D] Anyway, just take a peek at my site, 8 or something of the best spots are listed, with maps to 4 of them up (all are directions from major interstates). Kirkwood is your best bet for sheer number of trains, with over 50 movements a day on the UP Jeff City Sub, and if your lucky enough, you can scoot on over to the BNSF Cuba Sub (only about 5-6 movements a day), where you have a good chance of seeing some rare power, SD45s, B40-8Ws, GP39Ms, and even the occational GP28M. There arn't directions to Kirkwood on my site, but just about anyone can tell you how to get there. Let me know when your gonna be in town . . . I'll see what I can do [;)].

[Anonymous]

Being the huge NS fan I am, Luther Yard is decent, though I never could really get that close to the yard itself. The incoming throat tracks off of the Merchants Bridge, however, are easily accessible and decent places to shoot video or take pictures. Also, along those tracks you can get a view of where the TRRA joins up with the NS to cross the Merchants Bridge. On the east side, Lenox Tower is great, Dupo was good, behind the Our Lady of the Snows Shrine (off of I-255) you can see the CNIC line and the NS line. The NS line continues east through Belleville, towards Scott AFB, and continues to Centralia where it meets up with and crosses the BNSF and CNIC. East of that is mostly NS until you get to Mt. Vernon where the UP goes through. Actually, east of Centralia I am no good unless it is NS. But if you drive around enough in St. Louis or the metro east, you're bound to run into RR. Have fun!

[daveklepper]

I have been told that a ride on St. Louis's Light Rail System is the nearest thing in the USA to a typical 1930 era interuruban trolley ride. One friend wrote it seems like what the Illinois Terminal would have been if they had had the money to spend . I'd be interested in a general railfan's ride on this modern electric line, how much you enjoyed it, etc. It is almost two hours end to end, about a fifty mile run, mostly in rural or light suburban areas, and I understand there is some deisel freight service on certain parts of te trackage, but that is at night when the passenger service is shut down. On most light rail lines it is possible to look over the engineer's shoulder at the right away ahead, and some have real "railfan seats" like the well beloved North Shore Electronliners did.

[Anonymous]

Daveklepper --
The St. Louis lightrail system is really nice. Its one of the cleanest I have seen (go to Chicago and ride the "L" and then ride Metrolink in StL and the difference is Flintsones and Jetsons). I do believe that it is more than 50 miles long, but I am not sure how much exactly. Best part of the trip IMHO is crossing the Eads bridge, after which youre on Lacledes Landing and zooming into the underground. Its pretty neat! I have never seen diesels on the Metrolink, the overhead cantenary is way too low. However, the Metrolink does fly over numerous class 1 rail lines, which is also a treat.

Matt

[rich747us]

Has anyone here railfanned on the 18th St. (I think) bridge over the tracks downtown just down the street from Union Station? Is this a safe area, and does anyone know how the local law enforcent take to railfans? I checked it out a couple of months ago while I was visiting Union Station, but I didint have too much time to hang around and watch the action. I've been wanting to go down there and spend a couple hours there, but I've been concerned about trouble from the cops. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!

[daveklepper]

Sorry I was wrong about diesels using the St. Louis Light Rail. Obviously, the old IT did have interchange freight service and even had steam as well as diesel and electric freight locomotives. But other modern light rail systems do share tracks with diesel railroads, such as Salt Lake City. Of course, in Europe, Karlsruh being the first, there are several instances of dual-power tramcars-light rail cars, either dc electric and diesel or more frequently dc electric and high voltage ac electric, sharing main line electfications with major railroad systems and then being run just like streetcars in cities.

[daveklepper]

I should also add that I enjoyed riding the CTA system when I had the opportunity to live near Chicago in the summer of 1952 and the years 1967-1970, as well as business trips up to about 1995. Some of the "L" lines there also provide good views of Amtrak and freight railroad operations in the Chicago area.