T.G.'s Photography Blog

UP Big Boy X4006 - Kirkwood, MO While I have not managed to see Union Pacific Big Boy 4014, the newly restored and running Big Boy steam locomotive, I have managed to see and photograph two other Big Boy locomotives on static display. One of the two is Union Pacific Big Boy 4006, which is on display at the National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri. Kirkwood, is a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Front of UP Big Boy X4006 - Kirkwood, MO About Union Pacific Big Boy 4006 Union Pacific 4006 was built by the American Locomotive Company (Alco) in September 1941. In total, Alco built twenty-five Big Boys for the Union Pacific Railroad, with the first ones being delivered in 1941. The locomotives have a wheel arrangement of 4-8-8-4, and are articulated type steam locomotives. This means that the two sets of eight driving wheels move separately from each other, allowing the steam locomotives to navigate tighter radius curves. Overall, the locomotives and thei...

Pulpit - Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal This side pulpit at the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal (Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal) caught my eye while I was touring the basilica. I found the stairway leading up to the pulpit to be very intriguing. The stairway seems such an ornate design, with its wood banisters and railings twisting up, around, and even under itself. In the below photograph, the view is looking past the side pulpit's stairs toward the main altar of the basilica. Pulpit stairs and alter - Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal About the images Tripods and flashes are not allowed to be used inside the basilica, and the church is extremely dimly lit. So, I had to set the ISO to 6400, and hand hold the camera, shooting at 1/60th of a second, at F/4, for both photographs. Post processing was done in Adobe Camera RAW and Adobe Photoshop, utilizing the Nik Collection's Silver Efex Pro and Dfine (to reduce the noise a bit). Photographs taken: July 1...

Rocky Mountain National Park While driving along Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park , this line of trees caught my against the mountains behind them. I like how the cloud passing overhead and casting its shadow on the mountain between the trees and the far mountain allows the trees to stand out a bit more from the background.  This photograph was taken approximately six to seven miles (9.65 to 11.2 km) north of the Kawuneeche Visitor Center along Trail Ridge Road (US 34). The Kawuneeche Visitor Center is north of Grand Lake, Colorado. Photo taken: September 4, 2013, at Rocky Mountain National Park.

WAMX 2005 - Santa Fe Junction - KC, MO In the late afternoon light of a fall day, WAMX 2005 leads a quartet of light running engines south at Santa Fe Junction. The string of engines has come down from the West Bottoms area of Kansas City, and were making their way to the lower deck of KCT’s Highline Bridge. The Highline Bridge is just out of view at the bottom, left corner of the photograph. Behind WAMX 2005, are MWLX 2017, WAMX 3855, and WAMX 3852. The locomotives are about to cross the Kansas-Missouri state line from Kansas City, Missouri, to Kansas City, Kansas. The state line is about 300 feet to the west (left) of the locomotives. WAMX 2005 - Highline Bridge - KC, KS   Above, the engines are now crossing over the Kansas River on the KCT's Highline Bridge, using KCT Main 4. The engines are nearing Adams Street Interlocking, where they will swing to the southwest and head back home to Mill Street Yard. About the engines The WAMX engines are owned by Wat...

NS 9360, NS 8699, and NS 9108 - Santa Fe Junction Norfolk Southern (NS) 9360, NS 8699, and NS 9108 are seen here making a light engine movement through Santa Fe Junction, after having come off the lower level of the Kansas City Terminal's (KCT) Highline Bridge. The train is heading north through the junction on KCT Track 330, as it makes its way toward the West Bottoms area of Kansas City. The locomotives would make their way from Track 330 to either Track 79 or Track 80 for the run north to the West Bottoms. The foreground track, next to Track 330, is Track 79. Highline Bridge approaches In the background of the photograph is the eastern approach to the upper deck of the Highline Bridge at Santa Fe Junction. The Highline Bridge crosses over the Kansas River at Kansas City, Kansas. The upper deck of the bridge allows trains making their way between Kansas City Union Station and BNSF's Fort Scott Subdivision, to the east (left) of the photograph, and Union Paci...

Argentine Connection - Flyover at Santa Fe Junction BNSF 7711, BNSF 670 (an ex-Santa Fe Warbonnet), and BNSF 4308 lead a double-stack train east over the Argentine Connection flyover at Santa Fe Junction, in Kansas City. The train will soon be passing by Kansas City Union Station, as it makes its way east toward Rock Creek Junction. At Rock Creek Junction the train will get back onto BNSF rails, and travel east across the Marceline Subdivision to Fort Madison, Iowa. The Argentine Connection's tracks, as well as the tracks between the flyover and Rock Creek Junction, are owned by the Kansas City Terminal Railway (KCT). The photograph was taken from State Line Road, which is on the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. The view of the photograph, from this perspective, is showing the portion of Santa Fe Junction located in Kansas City, Missouri. Highline Bridge The lower bridge is the eastern approach to the upper deck of KCT's Highline Bridge...

CSXT 589 leads a train through the middle of Nashville National Cemetery.      CSXT 589 and CSXT 7906 are leading a CSX intermodal train south on CSX's Nashville Terminal Subdivision, through Nashville National Cemetery. Below, double-stack containers in well cars , on the train led by CSXT 589, cross over a short tunnel that carries a road between the two sides of Nashville National Cemetery. The Nashville Terminal Subdivision runs right through the middle of the national cemetery , on a slightly angled north-south axis. The rail line, which was here before the cemetery was founded, was originally owned by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Double stack cars at Madison, TN Nashville Terminal Subdivision The Nashville Terminal Subdivision (NTS) is a busy, double-track rail line. Both CSX's Henderson Subdivision and CSX's Mainline Subdivision feed into the Nashville Terminal Subdivision on its northern end in Madison, Tennessee. The Nashville Terminal...

GOT 242 and GOT 557 GO Transit (GOT) 242, a cab control car, leads an afternoon rush hour commuter train west past two other GO Transit trains on the Union Station Rail Corridor (USRC). The two trains to the right of GOT 242, were stopped while waiting for clearance to enter the Union Station complex. The train on the far right was being operated in push mode by Go Transit (GOT) 557 . Meanwhile, the train in the middle was being operated in pull mode by an unknown Go Transit locomotive.  Union Station Rail Corridor The USRC stretches to the east and west of Union Station and has an endless parade of commuter trains. At peak times it's not unusual to see three or more trains all entering or leaving the Union Station complex at once. In the photograph above, the USRC has ten tracks between Blue Jays Way (the bridge in the distance) and Spadina Avenue (where the photograph was taken from). On the west side of Toronto Union Station, the corridor runs between Union Stati...

BNSF 972 at S. Kinghighway Blvd. On a hot summer day, in August 2006, I caught BNSF 972 leading a train eastbound on BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision, at South Kingshighway Boulevard . in St. Louis, Missouri. The train had just left BNSF's Lindenwood Yard, a few miles to the west of here, and was making its way toward Grand Interlocking . BNSF 972 BNSF 972 was built for the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe in August of 1996, and it is a General Electric C44-9W model. At the time when the locomotive was built, the Burlington Northern and the Santa Fe railroads had been merged into the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Corporation, which happened in September 1995. The official merging of the two railroads did not occur until December 1996, at which time the railroad was named the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. In 2005, the railroad was renamed to the BNSF Railway, however, many people prior to this official name change referred to the railway and the BNSF. ...

UP 8404 at Chalfin Bridge, IL UP 8404 (an EMD SD70ACe) leads a grain train north on Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision at Milepost 26, in the flat farm lands of the Mississippi River valley in Southern Illinois. The train is between Chalfin Bridge, Illinois, to the south, and Valmeyer, Illinois, to the north. Chester Subdivision The Chester Subdivision runs between Valley Junction (Milepost 0) in East. St. Louis, Illinois, to Charleston Junction (Milepost 171.9) in Dexter, Missouri. Much of the rail line in Illinois runs through a wide open and flat landscape, which often allows for showing the entirety of the trains running on the line. For a point of reference in regards to distance in this photograph, the white tower to the left of the train is about two miles (3.2 km) away.  Photo taken: August 13, 2006, just north of Chalfin Bridge, Illinois.

A view looking out from Fairview Curve Viewpoint , along Trail Ridge Road , in Rocky Mountain National Park. Unfortunately, while I know the image was taken looking out from Fairview Curve Viewpoint, I am not sure which mountain this image is showing. I believe this photograph's view is looking toward Red Mountain. Photo taken: September 4, 2013, Grand Lake, Colorado.

LLPX 2285 and UP 2531 - Dupo, IL Locomotive Leasing Partners (LLPX) 2285 and Union Pacific (UP) 2531 sit nose-to-nose in Union Pacific's Dupo Yard , along the Chester Subdivision. The locomotives were idle while awaiting their next switching duty in the yard. The tracks in the foreground, one of which is only partially show, are the two mainline tracks of the Chester Subdivision. LLPX 2285 and UP 2531 LLPX 2285 has been owned by a number of railroad companies. It was originally built for the Penn Central Railroad as, PC 7963. It was also owned and operated by Conrail, as CR 7963, when Conrail took over the failed Penn Central Railroad. It has also served as EMDX 763 (an EMD demonstrator unit), and was at one time owned by Union Pacific, as UP 1920. Both LLPX 2285 and UP 2531 are EMD built GP38-2 models. LLPX 2285 was built in June 1972, while UP 2531 was built in January 1966, according to information at RR Picture Archives. Dupo Yard Dupo Yard was originally a Miss...