photo by Richard Schumacher
On Saturday, September 6, 2008, the Gateway Division NMRA and the St. Louis Chapter NRHS held the first ever joint picnic at the Wabash, Frisco, and Pacific Railroad. The WF&P RR runs 12 inch Gauge Small Scale Steam Trains alongside the Meramec River at Glencoe, Missouri. It provides a 2-mile roundtrip. From 1939 until 1959 it was located near St. Louis Lambert Field. As they say, the only scheduled steam passenger trains in Missouri. See the photo gallery from this event.
The weather was great, the steam locomotive rides were many and the scenery along the Meramec River was beautiful.
There were 95 registered members, family and guests from both groups, along with an additional 18 crew members from the WF&P and 9 crew members from the Decatur, Illinois, steam club.
The steam club from Decatur brought their Denver & Rio Grande locomotive down to pull trains. The WF&P provided four steam locomotives and one diesel engine. There were train rides all day. The WF&P and the Decatur club were very gracious hosts and they enjoyed having us there as much as we enjoyed their facilities.
Ron Gawedzinski (GD/SLC) chaired the picnic. Fred Blank (SLC) and Hank Kraichely, Gateway Division President, did the cooking; Ron, Jean Myers (SLC), and Mary Birdsell (GD/SLC) worked the serving line. Joe Obernuefemann (SLC) handled registration, nametags and attendance prize tickets. Bill Birdsell (GD/SLC) and Joe Obernuefemann, along with the help of some very young railfans awarded the attendance prizes. Various members of both organizations donated fifty prizes. Rich Schumacher of The Gateway Division was the official photographer. Bud Anderson (SLC) and his family served snow cones.
The picnic crowd consumed 158 cans of soda, 20 pounds of potato salad, 14 pounds of cole slaw, 4 gallons of baked beans, 120 hamburgers, 84 hot dogs, 4 pounds of baby carrots, 1 gallon of pickles and 180 cookies.
The committee and both organizations thank you for your attendance and any and all help and donations that made this picnic a success. Ron especially wants to thank the above named volunteers, for without them this event could not have been held.
Finally, thanks to the WF&P crews and the Decatur crews for making this a success: WF&P – Don “Tennessee” Angles, Greg Wapelhorst, Jim Scott, Jimmy Scott, Mike Lorance, Jim Greathouse, John Grewe, Matt Grewe, Brad George, Andrew Dean, Jerry Fritchle-Ellen, Matt Horn, Dale Bitsch, Dave Neubauer, Wayne Mosbacher, Mike Brennan, Clayton Cullen and Elliott Littlejohn. Decatur – Kenny Dan, Ray Heaton, George Roadcap, Tommy Roadcap, Jim Adams, Tim Jacobs, Robert Jacobs, Matt Davis and Al Trenholm.
