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James Baughn
James Baughn was the webmaster of seMissourian.com and its sister newspapers for 20 years. On the side, he maintained even more sites, including Bridgehunter.com, LandmarkHunter.com, TheCapeRock.com, and Humorix. Baughn passed away in 2020 while doing one of the things he loved most: hiking in Southeast Missouri. Here is an archive of his writing about hiking and nature in our area.
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Brief guide to rails-to-trails projects in Missouri and Illinois

Posted Friday, August 1, 2008, at 3:18 PM

My earlier suggestion to convert the old Iron Mountain railroad tracks into a hiking/biking trail generated several positive comments, both on and off the blog.

So where to begin? The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has a very nice brochure (PDF) that outlines the process of building a trail. It's not easy, but it certainly can be done.

Southeast Missouri doesn't have any rails-to-trails projects, but successful trails have been built not too far away:

Tunnel Hill Trail

The tracks of the Big Four Railroad between Harrisburg and Karnak, Illinois, were converted into a 45+ mile trail. The most popular parts of this trail include the 543-foot long tunnel at Tunnel Hill:

...and the massive Breeden Trestle located between Tunnel Hill and Vienna:

Quetil Trail

Not all rails-trails need to cover huge distances. The Quetil Trail at Alto Pass, Illinois, is very short, but very scenic. Starting in town, the trail follows the path of the narrow-gauge Cairo & St. Louis Railroad along the bottom of a long bluff, featuring interesting rock formatations.

Katy Trail

Arguably the country's most successful rail-trail project, the Katy Trail spans 225 miles (with more coming) across Missouri. It's got everything: river views, bridges, a tunnel, Lewis & Clark campsites, tall bluffs, and quaint towns.

Frisco Highline Trail

The Katy Trail does have some stiff competition from a more recent project, the 36-mile Frisco Highline trail between Springfield and Bolivar in Southwest Missouri. The backers of this trail came up with a clever fundraising strategy: finding official sponsors for each of the line's many bridges and trestles.

Indian Ford Road

Southeast Missouri doesn't have any rail-to-trails, but we do have a nice example of a rail-to-road conversion. Southwest of Puxico in Stoddard and Butler counties, a portion of the old Frisco tracks were turned into a gravel county road. This road is extremely flat and straight (with only one gentle curve) and takes advantage of three railroad bridges that now carry highway traffic. The largest crosses St. Francis River at Indian Ford:

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  • So do we know if the bridges will be left in place or removed?

    -- Posted by CeilingCatKnowsBest on Fri, Aug 1, 2008, at 5:06 PM

  • I don't know about the bridges yet. In the brochure I mentioned, they assume that the bridges will be left behind because the removal cost is higher than the scrap cost. But that brochure was written before steel prices entered the stratosphere, so who knows?

    -- Posted by James Baughn on Fri, Aug 1, 2008, at 5:56 PM

  • Thanks for the information on the other trails in the area. I love the Vienna trail, just wish it were closer, like the Katy.

    This was in the Post today. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/528B18E34CA2CC... They are extending the trail.

    -- Posted by Always_Learning on Fri, Aug 1, 2008, at 10:14 PM

  • I missed this earlier, but here is the letter from the Tie Yard of Omaha offering to buy the railroad property:

    http://files.kfvs.com/news/letter_to_buy_JDG_railroad.PDF

    The offer doesn't offer many details, but it sounds like Tie Yard intends to purchase everything, including the bridges. Their website mentions that they have expertise in "bridge and building demolition":

    http://www.tieyard.com/about_us/about_us1.htm

    -- Posted by James Baughn on Mon, Aug 4, 2008, at 1:06 PM

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