St. Louis

[Anonymous]

I will be riding amtrak to st. louis saturday and come back on monday, so i need to know some good train watching spots [:D] can anyone help me? [:p]

[daveklepper]

Be sure to ride the MAX Light Rail. It has the characteristics of the classic interurban lines and is a fast ride and you can see lots of freight railroad action while you ride.

[dehusman]

Actually the area around teh St Louis Amtrak station should have a good number of trains if you can get a clear shot, you might want to walk up on an overpass. The UP and BNSF mains both run right by the station, combined there are probably 40-50 trains in a 24 hr period that go by there. If you are driving, Granite City can be cool.


Dave H.

[CShaveRR]

If you're going to be mobile in any way while you're in St. Louis, you might consider getting on or off the train at Kirkwood. Definitely a neat place to watch UP action. But by all means go all the way into the city as well, and take the transit system.

[siberianmo]

I reside in the St. Louis area and offer this:

If you are traveling solo, stay close to the Amtrak station area .... wandering can be dangerous to your well being. There is quite a bit of rail activity in that area to perk your interests.

MetroLink is our Light-Rail system and it's worth the ride if you are interested in passing the time. Hang on to things of value .... The nearest station is about a 10 minute walk from the Amtrak station. I'd recommend taking it to Scott AFB and back - a longer ride and you'll get to cross the Mississippi plus travel through the downtown tunnel. Going west will take you to Lambert International airport - not bad scenery - but short on rail viewing. Also, the fare is higher for the airport run than anywhere else on the route. I'm not too certain of the headways anymore, but you shouldn't experience inordinate waits during daylight hours.

Kirkwood is a marvelous small suburb with a main street and a fantastic MoPac station. Sadly, Amtrak pulled the plug on the manning situation a bit a year or so ago, but volunteers staff it ....... worth checking out. The rail activity along the line is pretty constant for UP traffic. Just down the street (south) are the BNSF tracks, where you can also catch some freights - it is a walk though and should we have our typically hot early fall season - <yuck>.

Perhaps this URL will also help:
http://www.trainweb.org/stlrailfanning/hotspots/hotspots2-1.html



Sorry to paint somewhat of a glum picture of the area - but reality has to be served. Don't throw caution to the wind, the predators await.