BNSF 4129 - Branch Street - Hannibal Subdivision - St. Louis, MO

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 converted into the pedestrian and biking pathway.

Back in 2004, I caught a Rail Switching Services of Missouri's (RSM/RSSM) switch job delivering newsprint to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, via the old Illinois Terminal Highline Bridge. You can see that series of photographs at this link; the second photo shows the train backing up the approach. That train would back up the McKinley Bridge approach seen here for a short distance to gain access to the Highline Bridge from a small yard on the south side of Branch Street.

Photo taken: October 17, 2005. 

Location: St. Louis, Missouri.