Mid-Afternoon Railfanning Action in Kirkwood, Missouri, Featuring Amtrak's Missouri River Runner.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first video of my 2024 summer railfanning vacation out to Kansas. Just before I arrived in Kansas, I took a rest break from driving in the town of Kirkwood, Missouri, to do a bit of railfanning along the former Missouri Pacific (MoPac) mainline between St. Louis and Kansas City. Kirkwood is the first major stop along the Missouri Pacific mainline west of St. Louis, and to this day features a historic train station that Amtrak continues to serve to this day.

The town of Kirkwood continues to get a good amount of Union Pacific action with about 20 freight trains per day and two runs of the Amtrak Missouri River Runner each day. Traffic on this line primarily consists of coal trains and manifest trains with a handful of intermodal trains mixed in. The line is a crucial mainline on Union Pacific as it connects the two largest towns of Missouri (Kansas City and St. Louis), and is a good halfway point for intermodal trains between Kansas City and Chicago. On this afternoon of railfanning, I caught the two afternoon Amtrak trains (the eastbound and westbound Missouri River Runner) as well as a Union Pacific eastbound loaded coal train. For such a short period of time, I had a decent time railfanning here for the first time in Kirkwood, and I must admit, it is a cool spot. The historic MoPac train station gives this location a great ambiance and the sightlines from the station are decent, and I look forward to coming back here to railfan in Kirkwood if I am ever visiting St. Louis.

Though three trains in about three hours of railfanning is not the best of numbers, I still managed to have a good time out here in good old Kirkwood and will make a note to visit here again. Thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoy the video!

-N&W475.