Railfanning the Big Boy

Wow, was it fun to see the Union Pacific Big Boy 1440, as it chugged though Missouri in July.

The “Big Boy” steam engines were built in the 1940s in order to haul incredibly heavy loads around (including across the Rocky Mountains) for the war effort. These engines weighed 1.2 million pounds. Eight of these crazy-huge locomotives still exist, and Union Pacific’s restored Big Boy 1440 is the only one that runs. So they take it around the country every so often for publicity purposes.

Its 2026 tour is over, but you can find tons of YouTubes showing it at various points on its journey. I decided to add my little video (belatedly) to the fray. I think I was the only person videoing it in Bonnots Mill.

Railfanning is a thing; I’ve blogged about it before. A lot of railfans seem to video every train they see. I’m not that nutty about it, but I couldn’t help myself once I realized the massive train would be crossing the little trestle that crosses the drive connecting Bonnots Mill’s Old Mill Road and Osage County Road 416.

At first, Sue and I were had thought of seeing it at Morrison, or Gasconade, or Chamois. But those seemed like they might be rather crowded. Also, they were farther away.

Bonnots Mill turned out to be a good choice for us. There weren’t too many people gathered to see the train go by; I think they were all more or less locals. Several of the “advanced case” railfanners were driving along with the train’s progress, stopping here and there to watch it go by again and again. But they were absent from Bonnots Bill.

But Bonnots Mill is off the beaten path. If you were a railfanner following the Big Boy along west US 50, a detour to Bonnots Mill is about 6 miles (one way) from Loose Creek, or 11 from Linn. With that detour, you’d miss the arrival of Big Boy at its majestic entrance in Jeff City!

So we opted to view it at a tiny, historic town, where it would blow past us in less than a minute.

Unbeknown to us, Big Boy was delayed from its published schedule; after departing St. Louis, it was only scheduled to stop for about 15 minutes in Hermann, then arrive at Jeff City directly after that. But it made two unscheduled stops before Hermann: one at the Transportation Museum in St. Louis (where there’s another Big Boy to see), and one in Washington, Missouri.

So we got to Bonnots Mill about fifteen minutes before we thought it could arrive. Then we waited quite a while, wondering what the holdup was. How long did it take to get from Hermann to Bonnots Mill? Should’ve been a half hour, at most, right? But there was no way to know; no cell service in Bonnots Mill.

So we, and the other folks who showed up, waited patiently. Boy was it hot! But we had fun poking around, walking along the gravel road, looking at flowers and roadside weeds, wondering if Krautman’s Korner will ever be used for anything again, wondering if the Hotel Dauphine is getting much business.

Bonnots Mill has so much potential as a quaint getaway, or a stop along a Harley poker-run trail, or maybe a place to hold business retreats. Being right on the Osage River, where it joins the Missouri, it would be a good place for a boating or fishing outfitter. There’s a public river access nearby. I’ve blogged about the Bonnots Mill fall church supper before. But unfortunately, much of the historic downtown is deteriorating. Crumbling.

Anyway, we’ve gone out of our way to see these historic trains before. Like in 2011, when we saw Union Pacific 488 come through. That’s a smaller train, but it was incredibly impressive. In 2021, we saw the Big Boy 1440 as it came through Osage City, then we visited it in Jefferson City, where it made an official stop. The next day, we watched it chug through nearby Cole Junction, where my great-grandpa Renner used to work for the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

So this year, after spending a night in the railyards near the State Capitol, on the morning of July 21, Big Boy left Jefferson City with a whole bunch of LOUD hoots of its horn. It echoed all over town. It made me think about the days when steam engine horns filled the air of this town regularly, and people rode trains all the time.

If you get a chance to see one of these vintage locomotives, go see it, even if you only see it as it chugs by. I know you’ll find it compelling.

Bonnots Mill; Fall Supper Time Is Here!

It’s that time again—when all the local parishes are having their fall suppers. To find out what’s when, you can either look at the gigantic Coke Building sign on Jefferson Street and the Expressway, or you can look at the schedule on the Catholic Missourian’s website.



Sunday was Bonnots Mill. St. Louis of France parish always gets the award (in my opinion) for most scenic parish hall space. It’s up on a bluff overlooking the Osage River, with only oaks and ash trees between you and the deep blue sky. (For more pictures of this, see one of my earlier posts about Bonnots Mill.)



We got there in midafternoon, so we missed the lunchtime and dinnertime rushes. It was ham cooked with pineapple, and German pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, sauerkraut, coleslaw, homemade pickled beets and bread-and-butter pickles, applesauce, a platter of sliced yellow and red heirloom tomatoes, and homemade bread.

Plus, as always, your choice of desserts from the glorious dessert table.



The “country market” had a nice selection of bake sale items, canned salsa and preserves, as well as some great-looking garden-fresh vegetables, including sweet corn, some beautiful eggplants, and tremendous, puckery, deep pinkish-red heirloom tomatoes and yellow tomatoes. (Oh, we will miss them in January!)



Someone at the parish has created a bunch of nice postcards of the St. Louis of France church (with its distinctive “Star of David” on the steeple) and of the town of Bonnots Mill—several of the postcards were reprints of historic photos—and all these were for sale. (Ten cents a piece!)

Our m.o. is to go for a walk after the picnic—it helps after such a great meal! So we drove to the town of Bonnots Mill (as opposed to hiking straight down the side of the bluff between parish hall and church). Sue likes to take pictures of antique buildings and the railway. (And so do I—but I don’t do nearly as well as her!)



There’s some really cool stuff in Bonnots Mill. Here’s the historic Dauphine Hotel, which opened for business in 1875. Now it’s a bed and breakfast. (Oh, and that’s the post office, to the right.)



While we were walking around, a fellow in a pickup stopped and told Sue that the church was open this afternoon, if we wanted to go up there and take pictures of the inside.

Oh, boy! We love seeing the interiors of these churches, and we’d never seen the inside of this one before. What a treat!



But even more of a treat: There were people inside! We met a friendly lady named Jeanne Knollmeyer, who chatted with us about the history of the church. Much of our discussion revolved around music, since the church had a guest organist that day, a talented fellow from Clinton, Missouri, named Sam. (Is it Sam Lucas? I can’t recall his last name, but the Internet reveals that a fellow with that name is the organist at the Clinton United Methodist Church.) Anyway—he was up in the choir loft playing, beautifully, the church’s hundred-year-old organ.



It sounded great—the acoustics in the church are superior, and the organ had a nice sound and seemed perfectly in tune. Beautiful music, the first time we’d been in that beautiful, historic church. What a treat!



Next Sunday (Sept. 22) is Frankenstein—Our Lady Help of Christians parish is having its supper. This is a special year for them, as the church is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. It’s definitely going to be a party there this year! And they always have such good homemade whole-hog sausage . . .

Bonnots Mill Parish Hall Views

Since I've been under the weather this week, I'm trying to keep my posts short. So tonight I'm going to stick with pictures of last weekend's fall supper at the St. Louis of France Parish Hall in Bonnots Mill, Missouri.

The supper was fairly small and low-key. It was served cafeteria-style (you pick up a tray and a plate, then pass through a line and dish what you want onto your plate). On the menu were were pot roast and sliced ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and sauerkraut. Then, on the tables, we had big serving bowls of apple sauce, coleslaw, bread, and (my favorite of the whole day, to be honest) pickled whole beets, served on a crystal dish. What a nice touch!




But mostly, I wanted to show you pictures of the beautiful view from the Parish Hall grounds. Beyond the hall itself is a grassy yard with a few shelters and other outbuildings. There's an old shelter house at the top of a bluff overlooking the Osage River right above where the Osage meets the Missouri.








So if you look straight ahead, you see the beautiful Osage down below; if you look off to the right, you can see over to where the rivers meet (and the Callaway Nuclear Plant and its plume of steam); if you look to the left, the view down the hill shows the St. Louis Church and its grotto, and beyond that, the little town of Bonnots Mill.










And you see everything through the pretty trees that line the blufftop. And this time of year when the leaves are turning color, it's especially beautiful.