TAKING THE GRAND TOUR: TRAIN RUNNING INTO TROUBLE

JACKSON -- A meandering creek is eroding the St. Louis Iron Mountain Railway's business.

Williams Creek is washing out in several places, which means the tourist railway is closed to passenger traffic from Delta to Dutchtown.

George Peo, president of the railway, said that approximately 10 of the railway's 19 miles of track are closed to passenger traffic because of erosion caused by Williams Creek.

"We're managing to work it out, but one of our big moneymakers is our murder-mystery train," Peo said. "That requires a four-to-five-hour run. We're doing it in a three-hour run right now."

The St. Louis Iron Mountain Railway brings a lot of people into the area: Just under 20,000 people ride the train every year.

The railway's regular season opens in April, so this isn't the best time for the line to be out of commission.

"More than half of our operation is closed because of this problem," Peo said.

It's hard to miss the damage the creek has done along the closed section of track. Trees have collapsed into the creek in several places, and exposed earth is visible where water has washed away rock. The erosion means several sections of the creek's banks aren't stable enough to support the rail without shoring up.

A few years ago the railway dumped some 200 tons of rock into a sinkhole along the rail near Highway 25 and Route AA, but the sinkhole has grown enough in that time that much of the rock has washed into the creek, making the rail impassable again.

Peo said railway operators hope to have the damage repaired in about a month by dumping in additional rock, but they want help preventing further damage.

It all started in 1961, when the Army Corps of Engineers dredged Hubble Creek, which joins Williams Creek, and widened the channel, said Gene Penzel, a St. Louis Iron Mountain Railway stockholder.

"They widened the channel and lowered the (Williams) Creek," Penzel said. The creek bottom has dropped and the channel widened several feet because of erosion, he said.

When the railway began operations 10 years ago, Penzel said, he could walk across the creek in several spots. That isn't possible now.

Railway officials have a plan to slow the erosion: They want to build a rock dam on Williams Creek near the old Route AA bridge. Part of a previous dam is still there, possibly left over from a mill that used to operate in the area.

But building the dam means getting permission from just about everybody, including the Corps, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Missouri departments of Natural Resources and Conservation.

Peo said the railway has been trying to get the Corps to cooperate for years, so far without success.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission recently agreed to try to get representatives from all those agencies together for a May 21 meeting. If state and federal officials see firsthand the damage being done, said Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones, they might be more amenable to the railway's plans.

Fixing the damage won't be cheap; engineering, rock and rail repair all cost money, and so has the train's curtailed itinerary.

Right now the train is operating with a diesel engine. The steam engine went out of commission about a year ago, and is being rebuilt.

Almost all of the people who operate the railway are volunteers, including Peo. Three people are paid employees, including one maintenance worker.

In the railway's 10 years as a private operation, it has just about broken even every year.

Railroading isn't cheap, Peo said. "Between keeping the engine running and keeping the rails in good shape, it costs money," he said.

None of the stockholders is getting rich, Peo said. They are in it because they want to preserve the area's rail history.

"If we should happen to make a profit, which we did in '94, it goes back to the shareholders," he said. "My share of it was $7 or $8. Mostly we get a little bit of a loss. It doesn't amount to much, though."

In addition to money raised through the excursion trips, the Friends of Steam Railroad, a not-for-profit organization, also helps raise funds to keep the train running.