No trip to St. Louis is complete without a visit to the Gateway Arch. For our railfan purposes, it will give us an aerial overview of the various rail lines in the area, on both sides of the Mississippi River. We can either do this in the free time in the current itinerary after dinner, or else it can be done earlier, with dinner and some of the Metrolink riding pushed back.

As you can see from the above website, the Gateway Arch is just a part of a much larger attraction that includes museums, riverboats, movie presentations, and of course the obligatory gift shops. We will try to schedule an appointment when it would be most convenient for our group to visit, in order to visit the Arch only and complete our visit there in an hour or less.

The Arch is accessible from the Arch/Laclede's Landing Metrolink station on the Missouri side of the Eads Bridge.

The fees charged are for the "tram" ride up one of the two sides of the Arch. The fee for adults is $10, including a $3 National Park Service (NPS) fee. For youths ages 13-16, the NPS fee is waived and they pay just $7. Those 12 and under pay just $3.

Tickets have now been ordered for a 6:00 PM visit to the Gateway Arch. I have booked this time for a group of 10 people. If anybody backs out, there are no refunds. However, if the group gets larger, people can be added to our group at the appointed time (subject to availability) by paying another $10 per person. This advance booking allows us to bypass the ticket windows.

I have been told that for the 6:00 visit, we should arrive at the Arch between 5:20 and 5:30, in order to pass through a security checkpoint.

This should allow us about an hour to visit the Arch, including the tram ride up and down. From 7:00 PM until our 9:05 PM TEXAS EAGLE departure on the TEXAS EAGLE, we should have enough time to have dinner and hopefully complete any light rail riding that we might not have done.

Each participant is asked to send me a check for $10 to cover my expenses. My address will be e-mailed to you if you are on the list of participants. If you want to attend, but are not currently on the list, please let me know so that you can be added to our appointed visit at 6:00 PM.

Tickets will not be sent to me or any other member of the group. They will be held for pickup at a podium at the base of the Arch when we arrive.