Railroad-themed resort planned in Northeast Missouri

LA PLATA, Mo. (AP) -- Developers are planning a resort in rural northeast Missouri with a railroad theme.

Plans call for the Silver Rails Resort to break ground by late summer or early fall and open in 2011 at La Plata, a small community near Kirksville, not far from the Iowa border.

It will feature two hotels, a railroad museum, spa, shopping, a water park, an alternative energy farm and a "Pullman Park" that will feature 48 Pullman cars where people can stay overnight.

A train would transport guests from spot to spot within the 170-acre resort, which would employ about 500 people.

"It's going to affect the whole northern region" of Missouri, said Tom Marshall, one of the developers.

Marshall and his wife, Kelly, own a hotel in La Plata. They're partnering with Ray Burns, Shivam Survy, Steve Grande and Barbara Cepinko, owners of the Internet-based firm Trainweb.com, to build the $200 million resort.

Marshall said La Plata has a long history tied to the railroad. The famous Wabash line once ran through the town, and La Plata still has a Burlington-Northern-Santa Fe line that brings up to 80 trains per day through the community. It is one of only two Missouri stops for Amtrak's Southwest Chief transcontinental train.

"Everybody says, 'why La Plata?' There is a very deep, rich history here. The railroads built our country. In one way or another the railroads have touched so many people's lives," Marshall said.

Developers believe there are plenty of reasons people will make the trip to such a remote place, noting the state's rich cultural heritage north of Interstate 70.

"Mark Twain, Walt Disney and Jesse James, all three are within a few hours drive of La Plata," he said. "Basically La Plata, Missouri, is going to be a hub of the north."

The Marshalls and the Trainweb group connected when Trainweb was looking to move its company base from California to the Midwest. Burns said a site had already been picked in Liberty, Mo., but the hotel owner convinced him to make the trip to La Plata to see what was there.

When Marshall pitched the resort idea, Burns said he saw immediate potential.

"I said, 'This is a gold mine,"' Burns said. "It will make Missouri stand out ... to those that are interested in trains, anyway. If you're into trains, you're going to love this."

Trainweb was established in 1996 and now owns hundreds of domain names on the Internet. It's the largest railroad information Web site in the world, getting about six million hits a month. The company also owns Trainparty.com, an online store which offers railroad-themed gift items.

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Information from: Quincy (Ill.) Herald-Whig, www.whig.com.