Chipman Road Tunnel

I Agree with Clark below. Currently, the rail-to-trail conversion of the Rock Island St. Louis subdivsion (this line) has only been approved from Windsor to Pleasant Hill Mo. Missouri Central railway (a side company of Ameren electric Co.) owns the line from the Lackland rail yard in St. Louis, and still operates trains as far west as Union Mo, but own the inactive section up until Pleasant Hill. Union Pacific still owns the other 12 miles of line thru Lee's Summit, Raytown and into the Leeds juntion where the line stops/begins. Missouri Central did a "deal" with the rail to trail people to allow them to build on top of the railbed, however that contract states that MC still owns the line and can convert back to rail use in the future (kind of a slick way for MC to have the trees cleared and railbed washouts fixed for free). While on that note, an organization called "Corridor to the Katy" has been hounding/pressing UP to sell the last 12 miles into KC for many years. In therory, UP has a couple good reasons not to sell, mainly because if Missouri Central ever does restore full thru rail service on the line, UP stands the risk of future competition with MC on KC-St. Louis train shipments. The other, is there has been talk of a "light rail" service to commute from the Katy trail "end" at Pleasant Hill, to the Arrowhead/Royal stadiums in KC, as the tracks right of way backs right up to the stadium property. This could be a good money maker for UP if it ever does become reality.

But chances are, the final 12 miles of line may never see a trail, much less a train again. As for the rest of the line from Windsor to Union Mo, i've not seen anything on rail to trail or train use yet, but that could still change.

I'd hesitate to add the rail-to-trail category. There's no officially designated trail nor is the right of way actually passable for much of its length. It's heavily overgrown and in some places washed out. There's been talk of making a trail here but it's still technically an inactive railroad and it may still be used again for rail traffic.