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 NYC Hudson
Hudson was the name given to the 4-6-4 steam locomotive wheel arrangement by the New York Central Railroad (NYC), the first railroad to use this locomotive type in North America. Their road numbers were from 5200 to 5474. The J1 road numbers were 5200-5404, the J2 road numbers were 5405-5424, and the J3 road numbers were 5425-5474. They were famously known for hauling the New York Central's crack passenger trains and the 20th Century Limited.
Although the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) was the first to design such locomotives (naming them Baltics), they were not built until after the NYC's Hudsons. NYC President Patrick E. Crowley named the units Hudsons after the Hudson River, which was in clear view from his office window.
The Hudson came into being because the existing 4-6-2 Pacific power was not able to keep up with the demands of longer, heavier trains and higher speeds. Given NYC's axle load limits, Pacific could not be made any larger; a new locomotive type would be required to carry the larger boilers. Lima Locomotive Works' conception of superpower steam as realised in the 2-8-4 Berkshire type was the predecessor to the Hudson. The 2-8-4's 4-wheel trailing truck permitted a huge firebox to be located after the boiler. The resulting greater steaming rate ensured that such a locomotive would never run out of power at speed — a common failing of older locomotives. Applying the ideas of the freight-minded Berkshire type to the Pacific resulted in a 4-6-4 locomotive.