Upcoming vacation in the plain states what railroads can I see

[JCitron]

Hi all,

I'm taking a vacation coming up in May to do some storm chasing out in the Great Plains area of the US. The main purpose of the trip will be to video and photograph severe storms, extreme lightning, and tornados, but hopefully I can get some railfanning in as well.

With all of the driving (riding for me), I will be traveling out of Oklahoma City to as far west as eastern Colorado, Wyoming, as far south as the Tex-Mex border. Perhaps as far east as Kansas City, St. Louis, and even perhaps western Arkansas, and up north into Montana, Minnesota, and the Dakotas.

I saw some BNSF freights along one of the highways and plenty of well-maintained ROW along different roads in one of the promo videos. What other railroads are out there? With the road-side railroads, and speeding along at highway speeds, I would like to get some video and still footage of the trains.

Remember I'm from eastern Massachusetts with boring PAR and the MBTA.

John

 

[PerRock]

BNSF and UP will be the big ones. there are a handful of shortlines also in arround. Amtrak also in in the plains and you might catch one.

peter

 

[backyard]

...where?

8)...yes, I read the Great Plains,

Will you be traveling I-90 through Wyoming into Montana?

 

[Ferrous]

Stormchasing!?! See if you can find that guy with the Tornado Intercept Vehicle!

But yeah, BNSF, UP, short lines, and Amtrak are what's out there.

Hey, maybe you'll get lucky and see a UP steam special! (only ever had that privelege once, and it with 3985 at point was parked in St. Louis.)

 

[wmmeyer]

If you find yourself in Misouri with some time to kill between storms, you might want to check out:

http://www.transportmuseumassociation.org/
http://trra-hts.railfan.net/

Riding the Amtrak's Ann Rutledge from St Louis to Kansas City is an inexpensive way to ride on some old track on the south side of the Missouri River, stop briefly in several of the older towns along the way, and rub shoulders with the UP and BNSF freights.

The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (MKT or the "Katy"), a now-defunct line, ran on the north side of the Missouri River, and the route has been taken over by the state thru the Rails-to-Trails program. Katy Trail State park is one of the longest rail-trails in the world and the state park has the distinction of being 8 feet wide and 230 miles long. The trail passes thru many small, old towns that were stopping points for the Katy, and many of these towns have historical relics from the old days. Lots of pictures, the occassional piece of rolling stock (almost every town has their own caboose), and there are a few old buildings around that were used by the railroad. Many old hotels and taverns, etc, a roundhouse, track MOW facilities, and train maint facilities are still somewhat visable in Franklin.

Kansas City and St Louis both have restored Union Stations, as well as some other UP buildings along the way. The one in Jeff City is still used by the railroad and is pretty old and interesting.

 

[Ferrous]

Hey, speaking of St. Louis, in the Dark Ages (before Trainz with Internet), I used to randomly browse Google Earth, and without looking I found 3 old roundhouses/foundations in the St. Louis metropolitan area. How many have you St. Louis residents seen?

 

[JCitron]

Thank you very much, guys for the heads up on what can be seen. I'm not sure if I can get to the museums, but at least I can get some action shots.

@Ferrous - This group, the Silver Lining Tours, is the one that worked with the tornado intercept car. One of the co-owners does the video footage for the National Geographic Society and the Discovery Channel. If they are fiming any documentaries, I might be on camera.

I found out today that I need to get my passport renewed because I might be going further north into Alberta. Kewel!

I am really looking forward to this trip.

John

 

[Ferrous]

...@Ferrous - This group, the Silver Lining Tours, is the one that worked with the tornado intercept car. One of the co-owners does the video footage for the National Geographic Society and the Discovery Channel. If they are fiming any documentaries, I might be on camera...

Joy! You'll have to let us know how that goes! (I'm not even going and I'm excited!)

 

[robbiehanson]

As a western St. Louis resident(5 minutes from the Museum of Transportation!), there's a lot of Union Pacific traffic and a good amount of BNSF. BNSF parallels I-44 in southwestern St. Louis County for about 7-8 miles, and the highway runs next to their intermodal yard. As I haven't ventured downtown in a few months I can't give you many details on that, but I can tell you that BNSF runs along the river right under the Gateway Arch, and on elevated track through most of downtown. Metrolink(the local light-rail system) is a great way to get around, and it goes over the Eads Bridge, the oldest bridge across the Mississippi River. There are also a few major yards downtown, though I am not sure whether you can see anything there.

If you are in the area with a few hours, drive west on I-44 to Eureka, Missouri(30-40 minutes from the river). Off the highway(I'll get directions if you want them), there's a road that runs between parallel UP and BNSF mainlines. Great train-watching spot!

 

[JCitron]

Thanks Robbie. I'm sure I'll be in that area - even on I-44.

Ferrous - I'll post pictures in the screenshots forum. They'll be plenty of trainz and storms.

John

 

[mjolnir]

It would be helpful if you had a more concrete itinerary. Others have given as good an answer to your question as I can with the information available. However, one thing that I have not seen mentioned is the possibility of checking out railroad museums, which have the advantage of being stationary. There are museums with quite good content in Dallas, outside Kansas City, and in St. Louis. There are also a number of short lines and regional railroads which might otherwise escape attention. For example, in Dallas, there is the Fort Worth and Western (FWWR) and the Dallas, Garland, and Northern (DGNO). Northeast Texas have the Texas Northeastern (TNER) and Blacklands Railroad. Southern Oklahoma has the Kiamichi Railroad and the Arkansas and Oklahoma (AOK). Eastern Colorado has the VST. In Wyoming, South Dakota, sourthern Minnesota, and Iowa, you can see the former DME / ICE road, probably with much of their power and equipment in the old schemes, even though the properties have been acquired by CP. Also in Northern Iowa you will find the East-West CN.

You might find it helpful to purchase the Gazatteers published for De Lorme at least for the states in which you are going to be spending the most time. These are much more detailed than the average map or atlas, and show you ways to get "there" from "here" which are not shown on many maps and atlases.

But keep your eyes open, have an empty memory card and charged batteries, as you never know what you will see where. There are a remarkable number of old railroad boxcars grounded, used for storage sheds, often miles from where one might expect to see any based upon current railroad maps. There are tank cars still in use as storage tanks at various places, and in Nevada, Missouri, right along side the highway, there is the worlds largest flower box, made from a 50 foot gondola.

Good luck.

ns

 

[Ferrous]

Lessee, the tour (I suppose, based on what I saw on their website) is based out of Oklahoma City. If you end up going South and East into East Oklahoma, East Texas, Louisiana, or even East Kansas and North Missouri, you'll probably see the Kansas City Southern. Basically anywhere you go, you're sure to run into BNSF and UP, and in Oklahoma City, there's the Heartland Flyer from Oklahoma City to Ft. Worth (probably low-level coaches).

 

[ish6]

Take pictures and post them!
Have fun!!