Cargill Grain Elevator - Tipton, Missouri

Started in late 2005, the Meramec Valley & Pacific Lines is the name of my current layout. Still very much a "work in progress" - it is a free-lanced HO-scale layout featuring mid-western operations of both the Missouri Pacific and Frisco railroads circa 1960-1970. The name for the layout comes from the geographic region that a portion of the line passed through.

The Frisco railroad was born of the Southwest Branch of the Pacific Railroad.  The Pacific Railroad being the predecessor of the Missouri Pacific Lines.  The Southwest branch left the St. Louis to Kansas City route at Franklin (now Pacific) Missouri.  By the end of the civil war, the Southwest Branch was bankrupt.  The state foreclosed and took possession after the road defaulted on state-held mortgage bonds.  The road was sold in late 1866 to a group of investors, and renamed the South West Pacific.  After little more than a year it would be bankrupt and the road sold again - this time to the South Pacific Railroad Company.  This would later become known as the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad - better known as just the Frisco. The new Frisco Company was forced to use the tracks of the Missouri Pacific for the 37-mile distance from Pacific, Missouri into St. Louis.  Frisco constructed its own line by 1883.

This is where actual history and the layout go their seperate ways. On the freelanced Meramec Valley and Pacific, the Frisco never obtained its own right-of-way from Pacific to St. Louis, and continues to lease rights to operate over Missouri Pacific Lines between Pacific and St. Louis.

Two staging yards originally served to represent St. Louis and Kansas City The MoPac mainline passes through the Missouri towns of Sedalia, Pacific, and Valley Park. Newburg, Missouri on the Frisco line is represented by a small yard and engine servicing facility. In late 2008, another section was added, along with a loop and a larger yard that now represent Kansas City. Instead of a point-to-point layout, it is now possible to run a train continously if desired. However, there are still two terminating points at St. Louis and at Newburg for point-to-point operation.

"The Meramec River winds along the northern border of the Ozarks, draining 3980 square miles in its 220 mile northeastern journey from its origin. Year round navigability begins at the confluence of Dry Fork and the Maramec Spring branch

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