July 7th, 2018: Rock Island Trail

♫ Down the Rock Island Line she's a mighty good road
♪ Rock Island Line it's the road to ride
♫ Rock Island Line it's a mighty good road
♪ Well if you ride it you got to ride it like you find it
♫ Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line

But the Rock Island Line in Missouri went belly up in the 1980s became part on the Missouri Central railroad which also tanked.
The Missouri Central was sold to the Central Midland Railroad, and Ameren electric power producer bought the Rock Island part
as a hedge against coal transportation costs.
But now coal is dead so Ameren offered Missouri Parks a 100 ft(30.5m) wide right of way for a non-motorized trail in a PR move…
...and probably a big tax write off.



Many of the people along the line are upset. They say the original line was an easement and should be returned to the landowners.
Some of them have various arguments…
The tax money to build the trail.
Loss of privacy, isolation and open hunting grounds.
Having to move barns and buildings away from the trail because of biosecurity issues.
Jeopardizing bats living in the tunnels.
Contact by public with spray toxins on row crops, and complaints about manure smell.

There is a similar situation near me on a 100 mile rail line that runs through Mendocino and Humboldt Counties through redwoods and tough terrain.

Making a trail out of it seems to be a good idea to me, but I can't get over the accepted wisdom that, while it was built 140 years ago, the technology does not now exist to repair all the landslides, washouts, caved tunnels and fallen bridges.

That's right, much of the 140 year old technology no longer exists. We've now got better technology which can do anything they could and do it better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diaphone Jim ...the technology does not now exist to repair all the landslides, washouts, caved tunnels and fallen bridges.