Aerotrain meets Meramec River Runner - September 1957
Here we see the Brick Railway Systems version of the experimental Aerotrain (temporarily re-named the Mark Twain Flyer while under Brick Railway Systems service) speeding past the St. Louis-bound Meramec River Runner at the the West Barretts Tunnels near noon sometime in September 1957.
The Mark Twain Flyer (AKA the General Motors Aerotrain) has just left St. Louis Union Station and is headed for the terminus in Denver, Colorado, which it should be there by the next morning.
The Meramec River Runner (also owned by Brick Railway Systems), though, is in the final stretch from Kansas City to St. Louis, Missouri, and it will travel back to Kansas City the next day.
(In the real world, this scene never happened. The Barretts Station tunnels are single track and were disused by 1944 via a double track cut through a couple hundred feet to the south of the tunnels. The Mark Twain Flyer never existed because Brick Railway Systems is fictional. This also mean the Meramec River Runner isn't real either. HOWEVER: The inspiration for this steam led train is based off of The Missouri River Runner run by Amtrak, which does run by this location daily. It starts at St. Louis and runs to Kansas City before returning later via the same route later on in the day... which is exactly the same as my train.
The Aerotrain really existed as two sets built as a ten car permanently-coupled train. It was used by my partial inspiration for Brick Railway Systems: Union Pacific (among other roads) as a testing bed for the innovative (yet a complete failure as a product) train. Union Pacific now own the track that runs trough Barretts Station, and one of the Aerotrains (well, the cab car and two passenger cars) rests at the Museum of Transportation at the same location as the West tunnel.
Also: I picked the date (September 1957) because that's the month / year my inspiration as a builder, best (and sometimes worst) friend, plus a great many other things: my father, was born.
This one's for you Dad!
Aerotrain meets Meramec River Runner - September 1957
Here we see the Brick Railway Systems version of the experimental Aerotrain (temporarily re-named the Mark Twain Flyer while under Brick Railway Systems service) speeding past the St. Louis-bound Meramec River Runner at the the West Barretts Tunnels near noon sometime in September 1957.
The Mark Twain Flyer (AKA the General Motors Aerotrain) has just left St. Louis Union Station and is headed for the terminus in Denver, Colorado, which it should be there by the next morning.
The Meramec River Runner (also owned by Brick Railway Systems), though, is in the final stretch from Kansas City to St. Louis, Missouri, and it will travel back to Kansas City the next day.
(In the real world, this scene never happened. The Barretts Station tunnels are single track and were disused by 1944 via a double track cut through a couple hundred feet to the south of the tunnels. The Mark Twain Flyer never existed because Brick Railway Systems is fictional. This also mean the Meramec River Runner isn't real either. HOWEVER: The inspiration for this steam led train is based off of The Missouri River Runner run by Amtrak, which does run by this location daily. It starts at St. Louis and runs to Kansas City before returning later via the same route later on in the day... which is exactly the same as my train.
The Aerotrain really existed as two sets built as a ten car permanently-coupled train. It was used by my partial inspiration for Brick Railway Systems: Union Pacific (among other roads) as a testing bed for the innovative (yet a complete failure as a product) train. Union Pacific now own the track that runs trough Barretts Station, and one of the Aerotrains (well, the cab car and two passenger cars) rests at the Museum of Transportation at the same location as the West tunnel.
Also: I picked the date (September 1957) because that's the month / year my inspiration as a builder, best (and sometimes worst) friend, plus a great many other things: my father, was born.
This one's for you Dad!