Rock Island Trail - Willow Branch Bridge

In 1888, the Kansas City Rock Island Railway (KCRI) constructed 16 miles of new railroad, extending from Forsyth Junction to Creve Coeur, Missouri.  At the same time, the St. Louis, Kansas City and Colorado Railroad (StLKC&C) extended the line to Union, Missouri.  Between 1902 and 1904, the StLKC&C would construct a line from Union to Strasburg, Missouri; where it connected to a line constructed by the KCRI the same year.  Both railroads were merged into the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway in 1905.  The Rock Island had acquired and constructed a network of railroads throughout the Midwest, and this line served to connect the two largest cities in Missouri, and expand the reach of the Rock Island into St. Louis.  After World War II, the Rock Island struggled to survive, proposing mergers and deferring maintenance on their routes.  The Rock Island struggled to compete with a stronger and better constructed Union Pacific system.  By 1964, the Rock Island began attempts to merge with Union Pacific, and restructure railroads west of the Mississippi River.  This merger was eventually denied, and Rock Island turned its last profit in 1965.  In the mid-1970s, the railroad was in serious decline.  The railroad received loans to attempt to fix slow orders, received new equipment and turn a profit.  By 1978, the railroad came close to profit, but creditors were lobbying for a complete shutdown of the Rock Island.  During the fall of 1979, a strike crippled the railroad, and by January of 1980, the entire system was ordered to be shut down and liquidated.  Many of the lines and equipment were scrapped.  Profitable sections of railroad were prepared for sale.  This line was sold to the St. Louis & Southwestern Railway (S&SW) in 1980.  No trains ever operated over much of this route under the S&SW, and trains were limited to a short segment to Owensville, Missouri.   and the S&SW was merged into the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) in 1992.  SP became part of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1996. UP sold the line west of Union to Amaren, a utility company in 1996, and leased the remainder to the Central Midland Railway.  A portion in Jackson and Cass County, Missouri was converted to the Rock Island Trail in 2016, and the remainder of the line from Windsor to Union was donated to Missouri State Parks in 2019.  Development of the trail is ongoing.  The Missouri Eastern Railroad now operates the segment to Union.