T.G.'s Photography Blog

In the spring of 2004, I came across Railroad Switching Service of Missouri's (RSM) newsprint train, which delivered boxcars of newsprint to the St. Louis Post Dispatch in downtown St. Louis. This switching operation utilized the Illinois Terminal's (ITS) former Highline Bridge in North St. Louis, as well as the former ITS subway tunnel under the northern edge of downtown. I was lucky to come across this operation and capture the few images that I did because a few months after I took these images, the delivery of newsprint to the St. Louis Post Dispatch ended in June 2004. I was able to photograph the newsprint delivery operation on a couple of different days, but the following photographs are from only one of those days. RSM 2020 South of Branch Street In the first image, above, RSM 2020 (sometimes referred to as RSSM 2020) shoves a pair of empty boxcars south from Branch Street. The crew would set out the empty boxcars at the southern end of this small rail yard, a...

Southwest Chief at St. Louis, MO Some time ago, on October 17, 2004, Amtrak's Southwest Chief took a detour route through St. Louis, due to a train derailment on its normal route on BNSF's Marceline Subdivision , through central and northern Missouri. The Chief is seen here sitting at the old St. Louis Amtrak Station in downtown St. Louis. This image was captured from the 18th Street bridge, which is just to the west of the station. The highway bridge in the background is Interstate 64/US 40. Today's Routing Usually, the Southwest Chief uses the Marceline Subdivision between Kanas City, Missouri, and Fort Madison, Iowa, and then from Fort Madison heads across northern Illinois to Chicago on the Chillicoth Subdivisoin. For the detour, the Southwest Chief used either Union Pacific's Sedalia Subdivision or River Subdivision , from Kansas City to Jefferson City, Missouri. Then from Jefferson City, the train traveled on Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivisi...

Stairway at Prague Castle A gated off stone stairway leading to an upper level in Saint Vitus Cathedral. Photo taken on, April 29, 2015, at Prague, Czechia.

BNSF 7826 is on the point of a parked grain train sitting next to State Street, on which a tumbleweed is slowly rolling down. These tracks are owned by the Terminal Railroad Association (TRRA), and are just north of the TRRA's Madison Yard. Behind BNSF 7826 is an ex-Santa Fe Warbonnet painted locomotive. Here is another image of this same train a bit more from the side showing the ex-Santa Fe locomotive. Photo taken on: November 25, 2011, at Madison, Illinois.

BNSF 4926 leads a train east past the Grand Boulevard Metrolink station, at Grand Interlocking . The train is crossing over Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision , and is coming from BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision and onto TRRA's Merchants Subdivision. BNSF uses the Merchants Subdivision between Grand Interlocking (just west of downtown St. Louis) and North Market Interlocking (in North St. Louis, between North Market and Branch Street). At North Market Interlocking BNSF's trains can get back onto the Hannibal Subdivision. Since this photograph was taken, the Grand Boulevard overpass has been replaced, and the Metrolink station has been rebuilt and reconfigured. The bridge in the background is the old Spring Avenue  overpass, which has since been torn down, but not replaced. The Spring Avenue overpass had been closed for many years prior to being demolished. October 30, 2006. St. Louis, Missouri.

BNSF 5722 and BNSF 637 - Kansas City, MO BNSF 5722 (on the point) and BNSF 637 (trailing) are leading an empty coal train north through the West Bottoms of Kansas City . The train was heading toward the Goose Neck , and after going through the Goose Neck would cross over the Missouri River on the Hannibal Bridge into North Kansas City, Missouri. BNSF 637 was a former Santa Fe locomotive, which at the time of this photograph, was still painted in the famous Santa Fe Warbonnet paint scheme. Photo taken: September 26, 2005, at Kansas City, Missouri.

Metra Electric Train 756 sits just north of the Harrison Street Pedestrian Bridge in downtown Chicago. Behind the trees, on the left side of the photo, you can see the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) reaching up toward the sky. Also, behind the trees, to the left, is the Congress Hotel. Photo taken: December 21, 2009, at Chicago, Illinois.

Block Signal - West Bottoms - Kansas City, MO The block signal controlling a connector/interchange track between the Union Pacific and BNSF near Forrester Road in the West Bottoms . The highway bridges seen here are the interchange ramps between I-70 and I-35. Photo taken: September 26, 2005. Kansas City, Missouri.

BNSF 4129 brings up the end of an empty coal train at Branch Street. BNSF 4129 is the distributed power (DP) unit on this empty hopper car train that is heading north on BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision , at Branch Street, in St. Louis, MO. The train has just crossed Branch Street and is passing alongside the old Illinois Traction System (ITS)/Illinois Terminal Railroad (ITC) approach to the McKinley Bridge. The McKinley Bridge crosses the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and Venice, Illinois. Seen in the photo on the bridge's approach are the old catenary suspension supports for the ITS/ITC trains, which were originally electrically powered. In the past the McKinley Bridge carried both trains and automobiles over the river. These days, the bridge serves automobiles, pedestrians, and bikes. Today, the approach allows biking and pedestrian traffic to access the McKinley Bridge. If you follow this link , you can see another view of the approach while it was being...