Across Missouri. Hard to believe the Katy Flyer ever ran here..

http://http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?june03/06-30-03/MKTWindsor03.jpg
ryarger@rypn.org

http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?june03/06-30-03/MKTWindsor03.jpg
ryarger@rypn.org

This is one of the country's ten best rail trails. Right up there with the Virginia Creeper Trail out of Abingdon and the Hockhocking-Adena Trail in Ohio.

If economics dictate that there has to be an abandonment, conversion to railtrails represents a significant level of preservation. They are hundreds of times better than seeing an old right-of-way obliterated by shopping centers, another highway, or subdivisions. And, once a linear right-of-way is preserved, it has a chance of being recycled and reused by another rail application. When the houses and gas stations go up on a former right-of-way, it is done forever.

Plus: regular or even occasional bicycle riding -- even if done on a $100 WalMart model -- will help keep the tonnage off the waistline. Climbing up to that great photo location will get a lot easier!

amiller@rtms-movietrains.com

The Katy depot in Sedalia MO is located on the Katy Trail and has been restored.

here's a link:
http://sedaliakatydepot.com/

Electric City Trolley Museum Association

Sometimes railroad enthusiasts see rail-trail conversion proponents as "the enemy." Thoughts to ponder:

(1.) Railtrails do not cause abandonments. Business decisions and business conditions of railroads and their customers do. I have never heard of a railroad making a decision to take a profitable line segment out of service in order to make room for a rails-to-trails conversion.

(2.) Is not a converted railroad right-of-way really another form of preservation? Where the trains once ran is an integral part of a railroad system. And often, the only exposure the public gets these days to the artistry of railroad routes -- the sweeping spiraled curves, elegant bridges, long tangents -- is on rail trails.

(3.) As seen by a recent post, rail-trails often spur other rail-related preservation efforts. The biking information center in Xenia, Ohio, also has a room dedicated to the area's history that clearly would not be there if it were not for the wonderful rail-trails radiating outward therefrom.

(4.) While there may be competition for state and federal development grant funds, have those dedciated railroad preservation (by saving locomotives, cars, and the like) ever sought out a rail-trail project. I have ridden a lot of railtrails but have seen very little in the way of important educational and interpretive facilities that were the work of a local railroad museum.

Just thoughts this rainy Friday morning... at home... recuperating from the joys of a week with good ole Southwest Airlines (the Delta legs weren't bad at all).