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The Joplin, Missouri Union Depot stands empty now and the only calls it receives are the ones that bounce off the Cellular Tower. It has quite the history and if you are interested, you can read about it here.

I was recently in Joplin attending some meetings and had one evening to slip away and take some photos. It was difficult to find a vantage point to truly show this once magnificent structure. I was walking up and down the tracks, like a hobo waiting on a train, to find the perfect spot to take the photo.. I must have stood out because a man in a pickup truck came down and informed me he was the "railroad police." When he saw the camera and lens he decided I was harmless. My wife was waiting in the car, and all he had to do was talk to her to determine I was harmless. He said there had been cases of theft of steel plates from the tracks recently and he had to investigate what I was doing. (Like I could lift a steel plate.) I had been on the tracks earlier, but was not when he drove up. I asked him if it was ok where I was and he said as long as I was 25' from the railroad property, it was fine. I think he had seen me on the track earlier by the way he smiled. We had a nice visit and he left me without any thoughts of "riding the rails." No King of the Road in my future.