|
MoPac 2005: Bagnell Branch
Rail Trail Hike |
|
I remember so vividly those hazy,
seemingly endless bygone days of summer. I was a little
barefoot tyke, running and playing the gravel streets
about the sleepy little village where I was raised.
Those days back then, those were the days of the
monstrous steam locomotives, the “Iron Horses” of
yesteryear. For this old codger, that was over sixty
years ago now. The village was Russellville, one of the
many stops along the old Missouri Pacific Bagnell Branch
line. My chums and me, we’d be climbing trees or
playing cowboys and Indians, when far away the familiar
sound of the old train whistle would come drifting.
Right then we’d turn, to scurry uptown, to the railroad
depot, there to watch wide-eyed as the train came
chugging through. Perhaps we’d place a penny on the
rail, but mostly, we’d be there to experience that spell
of magic – over and over again – the ground trembling
and shaking beneath our feet, the belching and clanging,
and that unforgettable smell of sulphur as the smoke
swirled all around, usually engulfing us. Ahh, to this
day, and in my memory do those magic moments remain. By
simply closing my eyes, and after all these years, I can
still hear, see, smell and feel the might and majesty of
the old Iron Horse, a magic spell brought by its very
presence. |
|
"Hear the old Iron Horse pulling into the
station"
|
|
The glory days of the Bagnell
Branch Railroad came near the end of the nineteenth
century, early into the twentieth, from 1882, when it
opened, through the 1930s. Missouri Pacific Railroad
finally abandoned the old line in 1962. Many folks
today aren’t aware the train ever passed. Others have
heard old timers tell, or can only vaguely recall those
halcyon days themselves. The boom years were during the
1890s when railroad ties were in great demand, and again
during the 1930s when Bagnell Dam was constructed,
creating Lake of the Ozarks. Those were also the boom
times for the little villages all along, including
Russellville. The village of Bagnell was once known as
the “Tie Capital of the World,” when huge rafts of
crossties were floated down the Osage River to Bagnell.
In the ‘30s, when the Osage River was impounded, that
project was the largest of its kind in the world.
Anyway, by the time I was old enough to recall the days
of the railroad, the old Bagnell Branch was on its way
out. No more daily passenger service. No more
lumbering loads of ties going through. This was back in
the ‘40s and ‘50s. Little did I know – the times, they
were a’changin’ forever. Now-a-days the only trains
rolling the old Bagnell Branch line are the ghost trains
of the past. Their far-off whistle – only the lingering
haunt of the trailing wind.
I can also oft’ remember wondering where those rumbling
old trains came from – how did they get here, where did
they go? So, no doubt you won’t be surprised, that
after all these years, after all this time – curiosity
finally got the best of me. Ahh indeed, it’s sure time
to find out. It’s time to look, to discover – it’s time
to walk the old MoPac Bagnell Branch line. And so, on
November 19th this year that’s exactly what
some friends and me did, a three-day trek. It was lots
of fun.
|
|
