{"id":431,"date":"2021-04-30T11:16:28","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T16:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/laiben.com\/wordpress1\/?page_id=431"},"modified":"2026-06-03T15:18:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T20:18:42","slug":"thomure","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/laiben.com\/wordpress1\/thomure\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Prototype…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A bridge over the Mississippi was never built at Ste. Genevieve. As a result, when the Illinois Southern Railway sought to move traffic west to Bismarck, MO, its only option was the long detour through East St. Louis, across the river, and then through St. Louis proper. Congestion made this painfully slow, so the IS turned to a more direct solution: a railcar ferry between Kellogg, Illinois, and Little Rock Landing\u2014so named for the prominent rock outcropping just north of Ste. Genevieve. In 1901 the IS drove the first spike leading down to the river incline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tucked into a narrow valley, the landing developed quickly. A wye turned engines, an engine house went up, coal and cinder facilities followed, and a small yard and water tower rounded out the operation. Traffic moved briskly toward Bismarck and the ferry service expanded, prompting ever-larger barges and boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within a few years, the St. Louis\u2013San Francisco (Frisco) ran its River Sub main line across the IS tracks. A grade-level interlocking tower protected the crossing, and because the IS had been there first, it held seniority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disaster came in 1918 when a ferry loaded with cars sank in the river. That event sealed the IS Railway\u2019s fate. When the Missouri\u2013Illinois Railroad was subsequently formed using IS assets, a new vessel was ordered: a 286-foot steel-hulled side-wheeler named the SS Ste. Genevieve<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Missouri Pacific took control of the M-I, Little Rock Landing was renamed to avoid confusion with Little Rock, Arkansas\u2014an important point on the MoPac. The new name honored F. J. Thomure, an M-I executive from the MR&BT side. Even so, many longtime Ste. Genevieve residents still call the spot \u201cLittle Rock.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early years, two crews worked in tandem to service the ferry at Thomure. Over time, the incline was simplified to a single track and handled by a single crew. Cars were always pulled from the center boat track first to reduce the risk of capsizing. That cut was moved to the yard, northbound cars were shoved onto the vacated track, and the \u201cone cut off, one cut on\u201d rhythm reduced how often the boat needed to be repositioned. Only when a full track was completely cycled, would the boat cast off from the apron and line up for the next track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pilot, Captain Harry \u201cGunnie\u201d Grieshaber, was a seasoned Mississippi River man. The river\u2019s heavy current made alignment tricky, and photos show the port engine working hard to keep the side-wheeler pinned against the apron during unloading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all 18 cars were removed, the SS Ste. Genevieve<\/em> steamed back to Kellogg to repeat the sequence. While she crossed, the train crew took the inbound cut to Middle Yard and swapped it for another 18 cars bound for Illinois.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A typical day began at 7:00 a.m. The boat made five round trips daily, each Thomure\u2013Kellogg cycle lasting roughly 90 minutes, including working all three onboard tracks. At peak, the operation transferred about 200 cars per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ste. Genevieve<\/em> overnighted at Thomure. Crews worked six days a week, taking Sundays off. As the final cars were pulled from the boat on Saturday, two coal loads were placed on the outer tracks beside the boiler doors. A small Sunday crew came in to hand-shovel the coal into the bunkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferry service ended in 1961. By then, trains were being rerouted over Missouri Pacific lines south through Illinois, crossing the Mississippi below Cape Girardeau, and then running north to Ste. Genevieve on Frisco trackage.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Early map of Little Rock Landing (Thomure) when the incline still had 2 tracks. Later, the incline was reduced to a single track. Map drawn by Bill Hoss. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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1940 ILHAP aerial photo showing car ferry and incline with an engine house, boat yard and a wye tucked into the small valley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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HO scale model of the ferry boat and incline displayed at the
Ste. Genevieve Museum<\/a>.<\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Builder’s photo of the Ste Genevieve II. An earlier boat struck a half sunken piling and was destroyed in 1918. This newer boat had 3 parallel tracks, each holding up to 6 railcars.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Image from an early color movie of the boat being unloaded. Photo credit unknown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The end of the incline had a cradle riding on wheel sets which could be moved up and down the incline to adjust for the river level. During the many spring floods, ferry boat operations halted. Photo credit unknown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Engine house and shops at Thomure in the 1920’s. Lindell Marler Collection. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Idler (spacer) car M-I 1600 at Thomure in 1949. This and a second car (assigned to Kellogg, IL) were built by the Mount Vernon Car Company in 1926 to keep engine weight off of the apron connecting the incline to the boat. Pauley Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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View of the boat from the doorway of the idler car. Notice that the boat is carrying an Alco RS3 in the middle track on this trip. Photo by Joe Collias, MPHS Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Layout adaptation…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At O scale (1:48), the 286-foot SS Ste. Genevieve<\/em> would measure nearly 72\u2033 in length. Space constraints trimmed the model to a more manageable 52\u2033 by 20\u2033. While shorter than the prototype, the deck still carries three parallel tracks, each accommodating four 40-foot freight cars for a total of 12 cars per trip.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Thomure’s interlock plant protected the crossing to the incline once the SLSF built their River Subdivision. Photo by Joe Collias, MPHS Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Thomure yard serves the Incline Crew as both a switching area for assembling outbound cuts and a holding spot for cars pulled from the boat. Crews must ensure each cut falls within weight and length limits; although each track can hold up to four cars, actual capacity varies depending on whether the cars are loaded or empty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When loading the boat, the crew must use an idler car to decrease wear and tear on the boat apron. The center track is worked first and a complete exchange of cars is performed before moving to the next track. For consistency, the front track is worked second and the rear track worked last.<\/p>\n\n\n

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As on the prototype, the incline track crosses the main line at the top of the hill. In this case, modeler\u2019s license is employed and rather than crossing the Frisco, the incline crosses the M-I main. An interlocking plant and tower protect the diamond, and trains may not proceed until the Tower Operator clears the semaphore.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The incline and ferry boat in place.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Remnants of pilings in the river are all that remain of the incline in 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Engine service and storage are located at Thomure. A three-stall engine house is fed by a 24\u2033 Millhouse River Studio turntable<\/strong><\/a>, supplemented by three garden tracks used for storage and access to the coal shed. All structures are scratchbuilt and follow the prototype closely, based on period photographs. Diesel fuel, sand, coal, and water are available along the service lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The turntable is operated by the superintendent or clerk and features auto-indexing. Each engine-house stall is controlled by its own power toggle located above the super\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n\n\n

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On the control pad, press the desired track number followed by the up-arrow or the down arrow, depending upon whether the cab end or the blind end should proceed to the selected track position.

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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M-I #24 sits on the turntable bridge at Thomure. This brass Sunset model started life as a 3 Rail piece which was converted to Proto48 and re-powered with a Faulhaber motor by Jay Criswell. I re-painted and weathered the engine.

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The GP9 in stall 1 is leased from the MoPac; the MI owns Alco RS2 960 and RS3 963. MI 960 began its tenure as MI 61 and was the first road switcher delivered to the railroad in November 1949.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Thomure yard (foreground) and Middle Yard (background) share the peninsula and are connected by a double scissor crossover allowing easy movement between the two yards.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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The coal shed is accessed from the turntable.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The engine house has three stalls for storage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Thomure engine house from 1952 (Marler Collection).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Track schematic for Thomure<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

—–NEXT (Middle Yard)—–<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prototype… A bridge over the Mississippi was never built at Ste. Genevieve. As a result, when the Illinois Southern Railway sought to move traffic west to Bismarck, MO, its only option was the long detour through East St. Louis, across … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-431","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/laiben.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/laiben.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/laiben.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/laiben.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/laiben.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":75,"href":"http:\/\/laiben.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2406,"href":"http:\/\/laiben.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/431\/revisions\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/laiben.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}