Mississippi River and Bonne Terre Railway

Riverside – Doe Run
TV Young, the superintendent of MR & BT in a trolley
MR & BT route from Mississippi to lead mines, 1908
Route length:	94.574 mi = 152.2 km
Gauge :	First 914 mm (3 feet) later 1435 mm
Maximum slope :	18  ‰
Minimum radius :	717 feet = 218.5 m
Legend 08:55 Riverside 09:02 Herculaneum 09:19 Chrystal City - Festus 09:18 Howe 09:27 Plattin 09:38 Flucom 09:50 Oakvale 09:50 Valles Mines 09:57 tunnel 09:59 Silver Springs 10:08 Big River 10:25 Bonne Terre 10:40 Desloge 10:43 St. Francois 10:49 Flat River 10:52 Rivermines (Missouri) 10:55 Elvins 10:56 Derby 11:15 Doe Run Junction 11:25 Doe Run

The Mississippi River & Bonne Terre Railway ( MR & BT ) was a railway company in southeast Missouri that operated a railway line from Riverside on the Mississippi to the lead mines of Doe Run in St. Francois County . The trunk route was 46,492  mi (74.8  km ) long. Eight short branches had a total length of 17,418  mi (28  km ); the sidings and sidings covered 30,664  mi (49.3  km ) and the rail network a total of 94,574  mi (152.2  km ).

Company history

precursor

Narrow gauge locomotive No. 1, which was used from 1880 to 1890 on the route from Bonne Terre to Summit

The products and supplies of the St. Joseph Lead Co., one of the world's largest lead mines, were transported from the mines to a station on the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railway on wagons pulled by draft animals until 1880 . In 1880 the St. Joseph Lead Company built a 10  mi (16.1  km ) long, narrow gauge railway with a 3 foot (914 mm) gauge . It entered service on January 18, 1880 and became known as the St. Joseph & Des Loge Railway . With their goods could Bonne Terre to the west are brought to the station Summit that on the railway line of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Company was, but the minerals of the St. Joseph Lead Company continued to face about 18  mi (29  km ) are brought from the mines to Bonne Terre on ox wagons. The narrow-gauge railway was owned by both the St. Joseph Lead Company and the Desloge Company . It was dismantled after the commissioning of the MR & BT. The cost was split between the two companies: St. Joseph paid 66% and Desloge paid 33%. In 1887, the St. Joseph Lead Company bought the assets of the Desloge Lead Company and tried to find a shorter route to the steamers on the Mississippi to save transportation costs.

MR & BT

MR & BT Caboose No 3

MR & BT was incorporated on May 11, 1888, for a period of 50 years, subject to the provisions of Chapter 21, Articles 1 and 2 of the Revised Missouri Bylaws. The shareholders were nominated by the St. Joseph Lead Company . The stated purpose of the company was to build, operate and maintain a standard or broad gauge railroad that would run from Bonne Terre through St. Francois and Jefferson Counties in Missouri to a pier on the Mississippi that is today known as Riverside . The planned route for this was 30  mi (48.3  km ) long and the authorized capital was $ 300,000, which was the equivalent of $ 10,000 per mile.

The railway line was originally designed as a narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 3 feet (914 mm). The first section was put into operation in 1890 and the Summit narrow-gauge railway was then dismantled. In 1894 the line was on standard gauge umgespurt and then by Bonne Terre by Doe Run extended, where the Belmont Branch of Iron Mountain Railway at Doe Run Junction crossed.

Eleven o'clock train on the bridge over the Big River at Desloge

The main line of the MR & BT was only 46,492  mi (74.8  km ) long when completed, but it emerged as an important factor in the development of the lead belt area, resulting in tremendous traffic. There was a turn off to Leadwood and there were miles of slip roads, junctions, factory sockets, and sidings. The railroad ran through the economically important cities of Bonne Terre, Desloge , St. Francois, Flat River , Rivermines , Elvins and Doe Run .

It was essentially built like other branch lines: the gradients were only 18 ‰ and the radii of the curves were greater than 717  ft (218.5  m ). The rail weight was 75-90 lb / yard (37.5-45 kg / m), similar to most branch lines. Nevertheless, it was in the order for two Baldwin - 4-6-2 Pacific locomotives specifies that the locomotive frame would consistently be built particularly stable. They were to be engineered to withstand the harsh operation and significant lateral forces created by the fact that the railway line consisted almost entirely of curves with only a 1  mi (1.61  km ) straight.

The following changes have been made to the original application:

• On May 1, 1891, the gauge of the railway line from standard gauge was changed to narrow gauge, and again from narrow gauge to standard gauge on 4 November 1893 umgespurt .
• On May 1, 1891, the line was extended from its southern terminus in Bonne Terre about 18  mi (29  km ) to Doe Run and on June 21, 1895 by a further 12.5  mi (20.1  km ) from Doe Run to the south a place in Madison County .
• On May 1, 1891, the authorized capital was increased to US $ 500,000, on June 21, 1895 to US $ 600,000, on September 14, 1903 to US $ 2,500,000; and on August 3, 1911 to $ 3,000,000, which was the amount of the total capital on June 30, 1914, the day of an ICC evaluation.

MR & BT train station in Bonne Terre

The 29.246 mi (47.1  km ) mainline of  the MR & BT from Riverside to Bonne Terre was built by the St. Joseph Lead Company in 1889 and 1890. Regular operations began on March 10, 1890. The 13,898  mi (22.4  km ) extension of the line from Bonne Terre to Doe Run Junction was also built by the St. Joseph Lead Company for MR & BT. It was put into regular operation in June 1892. The 2,348  mi (3.8  km ) south end of the main line from Doe Run Junction to Doe Run was built in 1892 by the Doe Run Company , a subsidiary of St. Joseph Lead Company . It was initially operated under a leasing contract by MR & BT until it was purchased in 1893. The aforementioned 46,492  mi (74.8  km ) long sections of the railway line were initially built as a narrow-gauge line, but switched to standard gauge in 1893-1894.

The four 17.418  mi (28  km ) branches were constructed as follows:

• The Turpin Branch from Doe Run to Turpin with a length of 3.007  mi (4.8  km ) was built by the MR & BT in 1895-1896
• The Hoffman Branch from Hoffman Junction to Big River, 3,180 mi (5.1  km ) in length  , was built by the MR & BT in 1899. The 3.605 mi (5.8  km ) extension from Big River to the end of the line  was built by the MR & BT in 1902. The total length of the Hoffman Branch was thus 6.785  mi (10.9  km ).
• The Gumbo Branch of the River Mines to Mitchell Junction with a length of 3,289  mi (5.3  km ) was approved by the St. Joseph Lead Company built in 1898 and was bought in 1901 by the MR & BT. The 1.326 mi (2.1  km ) extension from Mitchell Junction to the end of the line  was built by MR & BT in 1906. The Gumbo Branch then had a total length of 4.615  mi (7.4  km ).
• The Crawley Branch from Flat River to the first milestone at 1.030  mi (1.7  km ) was built by the St. Joseph Lead Company in 1893 and purchased in 1901 by MR & BT in 1901; The 0.731  mi (1.2  km ) extension from the 1,030 milestone to Columbia Mill was built by Doe Run Lead Company 1900-1901 and acquired in 1908 by MR & BT. The 1,250  mi (2  km ) extension from Columbia Mill to the end of the line was built by the Columbia Lead Company in 1897 and acquired by the MR & BT from the Doe Run Lead Company in 1908 . The Crawley Branch was 3,011 mi (4.8  km ) long in total  .

successor

The Missouri Pacific Railway acquired MR & BT in 1929 and incorporated it into the Missouri-Illinois Railroad , which operated MR & BT as an independent subsidiary until 1945. In 1938 there was a gasoline-powered passenger train that made two round trips a day. The Missouri Pacific Railway acquired 51% of the Missouri – Illinois Railroad and merged with her in 1978.

Operations on the 11  mi (17.7  km ) stretch from Derby to the junction with the Missouri-Illinois Railway at Doe Run Junction were discontinued in 1941. The middle 22  mi (35.4  km ) section from Howe to Bonne Terre, including the tunnel, was closed in 1969. The remaining 8 mi (12.9  km ) to the north and south at both ends  were still in use in the late 1980s.

Rail vehicles

• 21 steam locomotives
• 1172 freight cars
• 15 passenger cars
• 10 track construction vehicles

Web links

Commons : Mississippi River and Bonne Terre Railway  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} L.K. Strouse: Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States, Volume 106 , United States. Interstate Commerce Commission, 1926 ( online ).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Mississippi River & Bonne Terre Railway. In: The Lead Belt News, Flat River, St. Francois Co. MO, Friday June 10, 1938.
3. ↑ Labeled Models, Manuals: Mississippi River and Bonne Terre Railway.
4. ^ ^{A b} George Woodman Hilton: American Narrow Gauge Railroads. Stanford University Press, 1990.
5. ↑ Christopher Desloge: Desloge Chronicles - A Tale of Two Continents - An Amazing Family's Journey - Volume One. 2013.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Steve Llanso: Mississippi River & Bonne Terre 4-6-2 "Pacific" Locomotives of the United States. ( Memento of the original from April 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Coordinates: 37 ° 55 ′ 7 ″  N , 90 ° 32 ′ 56 ″  W.