I have to say I was excited but now am mad. I went out today to do some reconnaissance. I had been trying to figure out where the Kansas City-St. Joseph Interurban Railroad crossed the Missouri Route 152 Trail. Ever since we started construction, every time I neared the point where the south side Green Hills on-ramp merged with 152, I had been looking around for the old railbed.
When MoDOT built 152, they had a bunch of excess material and stockpiled it on the south side of the highway just north of the fence between the highway and the retirement home to the south. When the retirement home was built, the buildings were cut below grade so it is hard to line up where the railroad would have crossed the trail. I could never find anything when I was out before but decided to look at it today.
This time of year with snow on the ground is the perfect time to explore the outdoors. The snow on the ground gives perspective and allows one to see the topography better. Most of the trails being built now were all scouted with snow on the ground to give perspective of how to design the trail to take advantage of God's Creation.
Since it is supposedly going to warm up (where's the 50's+ we were promised weather.com?), I figured this was my last day to have the snow on the ground to use to my advantage. I ended up getting some pictures and documenting a short segment of the rail bed around the highway.
That all sounds nerdy and exciting so you might wonder why I am mad? I thought I had cleaned the camera lens but didn't notice till I got home that the left side of the lens was not clean and the pictures were blurred. I wear polarized glasses and use an old screen protector for my phone so when I was reviewing the pictures after taking them, everything looked fine.
I still uploaded 9 of them to panoramio.com since I want to archive the corridor and am not sure when I will get another chance to take clear pictures with the snow on the ground. You can look at the pictures and their location on a map by following the link here. I'd describe them in more detail if they were clear but don't feel like it now since the pictures aren't perfect and it takes time for them to upload to the blog.
How did I finally figure out where the Interurban crossed the trail? Something I never thought about before, I found the break in the cattle fence. Since most of the area was farmed in the summer and used as pasture in the winter, there would have been a break in the fence at the property line for the railroad and a fence parallel to the railroad to keep cattle off the track. If you venture out onto the phase of the Line Creek Trail under construction south of Barry Road, you can see old smashed fence all along the stretch on the Interurban since that area was always pasture.
When building a livestock fence, two posts at the break or corner of the fence have to be set otherwise the fence falls apart. The corner or end post won't support the tension within the fence and any livestock pushing on it. A connection brace made of wood, steel, or wire is anchored from the end post to the next post which braces the end post and provides extra support. In case you can't visualize that, check this out.
Near the Route 152 Trail, I hope to go out again and see if I can find any other fence artifacts once the snow melts. The picture below is one of the end posts braced with steel tube and wire.
If you want to learn more about the Interurban, I recommend the late Ed Gentry's page here. Again, I am sorry the pictures are blurred but I know next time I will clean the lense before leaving the house.
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