Track bed washed away.

[Terry Toenges]

This was by my house. The tracks run behind my house on the other side of my block. This is about two blocks from my house by Main Street. The ground under the track just washed away. The Fox 2 News video.
http://fox2now.com/2018/05/21/heavy-rain-leads-to-flash-flooding-in-st-francois-county/

[Trainman203]

Had about 30 or 40 miles of that on the old L&N after Hurricane Katrina.

Terry it looks like you are in serious Historical Mopac Country.  Bismarck was a big stop where helpers were put on for Tip Top Grade in the steam days.

[dutchbuilder]

Sorry, this content is not available in your region.
Country , continent

Ton

[Piyer]

I believe that is part of the old Missouri-Illinois Railroad. It links UP's ex-Missouri Pacific line through DeSoto with the BNSF just north of Ste. Genevieve, passing through Mississippi Lime, which UP serves via trackage rights on the BNSF. It's usually out of service and only used when the BNSF's St. Louis - Memphis line is flooded by the Mississippi.

[Terry Toenges]

I didn't know about the tracks being an alternate route if the Mississippi flooded. There is an electric power plant a couple of miles to the West and I occasionally see a few hoppers pulled back and forth from there as i watch behind my house. I don't know where he is bringing them in from or where he is taking the empties. It's not very often so it's a rare occasion to see a train on those tracks. I don't know what they are hauling. I don't think there is coal because I never see any smoke and they aren't any big smoke stacks. I'll have to look again because I never paid too much attention to it.

[Trainman203]

"Country " means "Territory" in this vernacular context, Ton.

That is the old Iron Mountain main line I'm talking about, not the M-I.  But I did not know it is inactive.  Sad.  Another great main line gone..

[Piyer]

Comparing the news report to Google Street View, the washout is in the vicinity of East Main Street and View Street in Park Hills, MO: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8485582,-90.5156897,18.75z, so it's definitely on the M-I (and actually part of the part of the M-I I'm modeling).

The "electric plant" appears to be the local utility's base of operations. They don't generate electricity there, but rather take the power from the high voltage grid and step it down for the local transmission lines. The street view from 2013 shows the spur into the plant to be disconnected from the mainline, but that doesn't mean that they cannot be taking delivery right on the main. Power poles and bulky machinery are logical items for delivery. Coal? Coal hoppers? Not so much so, BUT, maybe they take delivery of gravel, or ship out woodchips from branch trimmings. 

[Terry Toenges]

They are covered hoppers so I don't what's in them.

[Piyer]

They are covered hoppers so I don't what's in them.

Hm... could be bad order cars being shunted from Mississippi Lime to the car shop in DeSoto.

[Trainman203]

I was referring in particular to the region around Bismarck which definitely was on the Iron Mountain.

[Terry Toenges]

I might be wrong. I just assumed they were going to the power plant because there was nothing else to go to and I saw tracks in the power plant. I never looked close to see if they were connected.
If you switch to the satellite map in that Google Earth link and follow the track West to Bismarck, there is a loco sitting there with three of the cars.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7727555,-90.6283679,252m/data=!3m1!1e3

[Terry Toenges]

I think I figured out what they are hauling. If you follow the track East to Ste. Genevieve, there is the big Mississippi Lime complex with sidings and spurs and hoppers. The tracks in Bismarck are a main line. They are probably hauling lime over to Bismarck from Ste. Gen. and parking the cars there to be picked up by a freight passing through.

[bbmiroku]

Next time a train is stopped, ask the engineer.
I used to do it all the time.  But now they travel once or twice a week at around 5:30 AM, and I'm just waking up then.

[Piyer]

First, for the curious, there is a map of the M-I included below.

Second... best as I have been able to figure out, current UP service on the old M-I is Riverside (Jct.) to about Howe (to use old station names), Bismarck to Ste. Genevieve / Thomure, and Derby (Jct.) to south of Bonne Terre. I'm not sure about the Illinois trackage, and from Bonne Terre to Howe the track is completely gone. There is freight service to the Doe Run complex in Herculaneum, a scrap metal dealer on the north side of Festus, and a chemical / pharmaceutical company on the south side of Festus were the tracks end. Mississippi Lime traffic comes down from Riverside and switches to the Crystal City branch just south of Herculaneum. At Crystal City, UP connects with BNSF where the old Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant was, and they run on trackage rights to just north of Ste. Genevieve. In what I presume is the old ferry yard --- yep, that red line on the map was a car ferry, they never had a bridge to connect the Missouri and Illinois trackage --- at the old ferry yard UP sorts its loads and empties for Mississippi Lime complex, which is alongside the M-I proper.

As far as I know, those four are the only active industries on the Missouri side of the system today. There is a company that railroad MofW equipment in Crystal City (near Mercy Jefferson hospital), but I don't know if they actually use UP to ship / receive. Probably not. There might also be something along the Derby - Bonne Terre line, but there aren't any obvious major shippers. Alas, the lead belt has turned to the rust and dust belt. :-(

[Terry Toenges]

My town of Park Hills is the result of four towns incorporating together to form one city. We live in the Flat River part. The four towns that went together were Flat River, Esther, Elvins, and Rivermines. I never heard of Derby.
The Mo Pac track that goes North and South through Bismarck is also used by Amtrak. Amtrak's Texas Eagle passes through Bismarck going between Chicago and San Antonio.
I never see the train stopped, so it's kind of hard to ask.