OTOL Missouri-Texas RailFest 2017 Homepage

July 15-22, 2017

Kansas City * St. Louis * Dallas * Chicago

Created 12/29/10; Updated 4/8/18

OTOL Missouri-Texas RailFest (MTRF) 2017 was our summer railfan event centered on three major US cities, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Dallas. We rode the SOUTHWEST CHIEF, MISSOURI RIVER RUNNER, and TEXAS EAGLE, and also rode transit within all three cities. At the end, we took a Metra round trip in the Chicago area.

Main goals of this trip were to ride the RideKC Streetcar in Kansas City and the Metrolink Blue Line in St. Louis (only the Red Line existed when we were there back in 2005). In Dallas, for light rail only the Red Line & Blue Line existed in 2005. Since then, the Blue Line has been extended on both ends, and the Green Line and Orange Line have opened. We also experienced the Las Colinas People Mover in Irving. The McKinney Avenue heritage trolley (M-Line) has been extended closer to downtown on a full loop, and the modern Dallas Streetcar has also gone into service. We did the suburb-to-suburb commuter rail line known as A-Train round trip between Carollton to Denton, accessed by the DART Green Line. In Chicago, the one Metra line we had not yet ridden as a group was the UP-Northwest Line between Chicago and Harvard.



Saturday, July 15
Departed from Chicago mid-afternoon on westbound SOUTHWEST CHIEF, arriving in Kansas City late evening. Overnight in Kansas City.

Sunday, July 16
Took RideKC Streetcar in the morning, along with a tour of the streetcar maintenance facility. Took afternoon/evening eastbound MISSOURI RIVER RUNNER to St. Louis. Overnight in St. Louis.

Monday, July 17
Rode Metrolink light rail. Left St. Louis in evening on southbound TEXAS EAGLE.

Tuesday, July 18
Arrived in Dallas, mid-morning. Rode some DART light rail. Overnight in Dallas.

Wednesday, July 19
Rode DART light rail, DCTA A-Train commuter rail, and Las Colinas Automated People Mover. Overnight in Dallas.

Thursday, July 20
More DART light rail, M-Line trolley, and Dallas Streetcar. Left Dallas on northbound TEXAS EAGLE in afternoon.

Friday, July 21
Arrivde Chicago mid-afternoon.

Saturday, July 22
Rode one Metra commuter rail line round trip in the morning.



OTOL MISSOURI-TEXAS RAILFEST 2017
GENERAL PAGES
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List of participantsUpdated 7/21/17
ItineraryUpdated 7/22/17
MTRF Red SignalsCreated 7/9/17
KANSAS CITY PAGES
ST. LOUIS PAGES
DALLAS PAGES
CHICAGO PAGES







OTOL MISSOURI-TEXAS RAILFEST 2017
KANSAS CITY PAGES
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List of KC Streetcar routesUpdated 3/25/17
Kansas City linksCreated 4/2/17







OTOL MISSOURI-TEXAS RAILFEST 2017
ST. LOUIS PAGES
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List of Metrolink light rail routesUpdated 3/25/17
List of Delmar Loop Trolley routesCreated 3/26/17
St. Louis linksUpdated 4/2/17







OTOL MISSOURI-TEXAS RAILFEST 2017
DALLAS PAGES
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List of DART light rail
& streetcar routes
Updated 3/25/17
List of A-Train commuter rail routesUpdated 3/25/17
List of TRE commuter rail routesUpdated 3/25/17
Dallas linksUpdated 4/2/17







OTOL MISSOURI-TEXAS RAILFEST 2017
CHICAGO PAGES
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List of CTA heavy rail routesUpdated 3/25/17
List of Metra commuter rail routesUpdated 3/25/17
Chicago linksUpdated 2/16/15