Home Page › Forums › Missouri Pacific Historical Society › Annual Convention › Museums enroute to Austin › Reply To: Museums enroute to Austin
Should you be passing through San Antonio (80 miles south) to and from Austin, you can see the I&GN station, excellently preserved as a credit union, just west of downtown. Of course, just east of downtown is the Sunset Route station, also well preserved, and a cute little Amtrak station just to the south. There’s a Colorado Eagle diner, plus a really nicely restored station, at Rockdale, as well as a nicely redone, albeit sadly kicked out of its original site, joint MP-SP station in Hearne. Look for it on the opposite side of the track from its original site.
Several other smaller MoPac sites are well preserved along highway 79 which parallels the MP main from Palestine to almost Austin. Along the T&P, besides Abilene, there’s Baird, which is on the other side of town from the interstate exit. And in Ft. Worth, you literally can’t miss seeing the T&P station, general office building and warehouse. And if you’re coming from really far west, the El Paso Union Station is still in operation.
There could, emphasize could, be good train-watching on the stretch from Waco all the way to Navasota and beyond on highway 6. The line is visible for miles at a time in places. From I-35 you can see the MoPac here and there off in the distance. The towns of San Marcos and New Braunfels are interesting, once you fight past the malls and tourist attractions.
RG7
