The Iron Mountain Trailway is a series of 47 geocaches places along the railbed of the historic St Louis Iron Mountain Railroad Jackson - Gordonville - Delta line. This railroad served freight traffic between Jackson Missouri and Delta Missouri, originally built by the Jackson Branch Railroad Company.
The original line was meant to connect with the Belmont Branch at Allenville and travel through Jackson into Perry County and a ferry connection along the Mississippi River. When the line reached as far as Jackson from Allenville in 1885, construction stopped, and railroad freight service commenced. The JBRR was soon absorbed into the Saint Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad, which itself was merged into the Missouri Pacific years later.
The MP first submitted the line up for abandonment in 1932 and now, in 2015 all but the northernmost 7 miles of the railway have been abandoned and the land reverted to the descendants of the original owners.
Beginning in Gordonville at a park that is actually railroad property that once served as a station for the line, the first six miles of the remaining track wind through pastures and fields, flirting occasionally with Hubble Creek.
the last, most northern mile, cuts into the heart of the comparatively urban Jackson, Missouri, crossing the intersection of Highway 25 and highway 71 diagonally and entering the St. Louis Iron Mountain Railroad Company yard.
::CAUTION::
This Railroad is semi-active. A real live actual train runs on these tracks on Saturdays from April through December. The train may also run on other days during these months at irregular times when it is charted for a private event.
The train moves very slowly, reaching a maximum speed of six miles per hour and it is very loud. If you are paying attention you will have no problem hearing and seeing the train coming and getting off the track and out of the way.
If that still seems too dangerous to you, keep in mind that the train does not run at all from January through March and you would be able to get these caches during those months without worry about the train coming down the track.
As with anything else, your activities are at your own best judgement. If this kind of caching causes you concern, I want to urge you to seek other caches. There are lots of them out there.
About The Dixie Flyer
The Dixie Flyer was a premier named passenger train that operated from 1892 to 1966 via the "Dixie Route" from Chicago and St. Louis via Evansville, Nashville, and Atlanta to Florida.
At the height of the Florida land boom in 1925, the popular Dixie Flyer was split into three sections: the all-Pullman Dixie Flyer from Chicago/St. Louis to Florida; the coaches and Atlanta and Augusta sleepers were carried on the second section, named the Dixie Express; mail and express went by the third section, the Dixie Mail. Following the collapse of the Florida boom and the effects of the Great Depression, services were cut back in the 1930s, with the Flyer handling both coaches and Pullmans.
The Dixie Flyer was discontinued in 1966, like many other passenger trains a victim of plummeting ridership in the face of airline and highway competition.