Nostalgia & History > The McPherson Files... Iron Mountain's Railfan Day '89

The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern in Jackson, Missouri, had their Railfan Day on September 17, 1989.  I had first run into Porter 2-4-2 #5 in 1983, when she was parked in Marion, Illinois, on the property of the Crab Orchard & Egyptian.  She had been retired by the CO&E for over three years by that point, but would not leave the property until the spring of 1985.
 
The Iron Mountain began operating in 1986, and I first rode that September.  #5 got an overhaul over the winter of 1986-87, and when I next visited in November, 1987, she was in much better shape than after her initial restoration.
 
1.  #5 hot and ready for the beginning of the day’s activities.
 
2. #5 backs off the house track to go pick up a freight consist with a couple of cabooses for riders.  That train would be the first of the day.
 
3. On Jackson’s south side, #5 backs the train up for a photo run.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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4. #5 makes a photo run on the point of the freight consist.
 
5. Later in the day, Jackson & Southern GP9 #103 took a turn on the point of the regular excursion consist.  In this scene, the train make a runby along a rural county road south of Jackson.  #103 was former Illinois Central #9089.
 
6. The last excursion of the day found #5 and #103 on the point.  This photo finds the train making a photo run at a trestle near Dutchtown, Missouri.  The tracks here have been removed, and what remains of the Iron Mountain is a landlocked five-mile stretch of rail between Jackson and Gordonville.
 
The engineer of #103 on this day was Camille Chappuis, a well-known area railfan, photographer and long-time member of the Southern Illinois Train Collectors.  The son of a Missouri Pacific operator, control point Chap at Gorham was named for his father, and he was well-liked by everyone who knew him.  His love of railroading would take him to the Southern Pacific, where he worked as a freight conductor over the old GM&O between St. Louis and Chicago following S.P.’s acquiring the line from the bankrupt Chicago, Missouri & Western.  Camille was killed on January 20, 1993, in a head-on collision when, while running on trackage rights, a Burlington Northern yard job ran a stop signal at the west end of Eola Yard.  He was 29 years old.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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I have a some fond memories of the place from a one-time-only visit. By shear dumb luck I stumbled onto it in this thread:
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3053460,3053805#msg-3053805

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