Wabash Frisco & Pacific Railway

I really think that the Wabash Frisco & Pacific Railway Steam Railway Ride is one of the best $4 entertainment values that I've had in a long time. The miniature railway ride runs along the Meramec River built on the old rail bed at Glencoe, Missouri - a rural suburb of St. Louis. Parts of the railway cross over hiking and biking trails so you will see other people out to enjoy nature as well.

As mentioned, the tracks run along the Meramec River but one only gets a few glimpses of the river through the trees. You should get a better view of the river during the Spring and Autumn when there are less leaves on the trees and then you can probably better view river bluffs. But we really enjoyed our trip with all of the summer foliage.

Although they have several operating steam locomotives, our locomotive was a Diesel style engine (I'm not sure what kind of fuel it actually used). More than one train runs at a time so they operate the system like a real rail system using radios and rail terminology to coordinate train movements. It is very well done. Our roundtrip took us 45 minutes. We happened to be in the last car when we departed the "station" so when they detached the engine and moved it around to our end for the return trip (on a bypass rail) we became the first car for the return trip.

Most of the passengers were parents with small kids. But people of any age can enjoy the trip which takes you through a nice wooded area along the Meramec River. So be sure to bring a camera or video as there is a lot to photograph here and your kids will enjoy seeing this in the future.

I should mention that there is a train shed where other locomotives were located. There was also a railway turntable to reverse the engines near where you board the train. I would suggest photographing the area after your ride as you need to queue up as one boards on a first-come basis. There are benches to sit on in line. Like I mentioned, there were several trains operating during our visit. We didn't wait more than about 15 minutes for our train to arrive.