UP 3985 - St. Louis to Gorham Excursion - October 2010

-
UP 3985 southbound on the Chester Subdivision at Columbia, IL
UP 3985 - Chester Subdivision - Columbia, IL

Back in October of 2010, Union Pacific's Challenger 3985 came to St. Louis, Missouri. On October 7, the steam locomotive took an excursion train south to Gorham, Illinois, and then back to St. Louis. The first photograph, above, is of the locomotive as it heads south on the Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision at Columbia, Illinois. This was the only photograph I managed to get of the locomotive on the outbound trip to Gorham. The train was traveling at a fast pace, and due to a road closure at Chester, Illinois, my dad and I could not keep with it. So, after lunch in Chester, we found a photographic spot to capture UP 3985 from on the return trip.

Union Pacific 3985 leads a train on Chester Subdivision over the Kaskaskia River, near Ellis Grove, IL.
UP 3985 - Kaskaskia River - Chester Subdivision

After Union Pacific 3985 got to Gorham, Illinois, it was turned around on the wye tracks between the Chester Subdivision and the Mount Vernon Subdivision. It then began its journey back to St. Louis. On the return journey we caught the locomotive and its train coming across the Kaskaskia River bridge (approximately milepost 51.5) on the Chester Subdivision. This location is about 2.5 miles west of Ellis Grove, Illinois. From this location, UP 3985 has about 55 miles to go, by rail, to get back to St. Louis, Missouri. The bridge is just north of Gage Junction (milepost 52.0) on the subdivision.

UP 3985 rolls west on the Jefferson City Subdivision at St. Louis
UP 3985 - Jefferson City Subdivision - Downtown St. Louis

After another fast paced chase of the locomotive on its return journey to St. Louis, we managed to get back to town to catch 3985 on the Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision as it passed by downtown St. Louis. The train is passing by Union Pacific's 12th Street Yard, which is on the southern edge of downtown. In the background the top of the Gateway Arch stands above the downtown Sheraton Hotel. At this point, the train is nearly back to the location near Compton Avenue where it will sit on public display for the rest of the day.

UP 3985 with the Gateway Arch - St. Louis, MO
UP 3985 - Gateway Arch - St. Louis, MO

Later in the day, after UP 3985 had arrived back at its public display location, we headed over to capture a few photographs of the locomotive in the late afternoon light. In the photograph above, the the locomotive sits with the Gateway Arch in the background.

UP 3985 - Sits on display in St. Louis after its trip to Gorham, IL
UP 3985 - On display at St. Louis, MO

Above is one last photograph for this post, from the day's outing. The locomotive is sitting on display near Compton Avenue and Chouteau Avenue, along the Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision.

Photographs taken: October 7, 2010.

Comments

  1. Shelly GDecember 9, 2019 at 3:19 PM

    Really great images of it! Love the light in them. The bridge shot is great too. I think 3985 came to Kansas as well that year. I found my shots of it the other day and pretty sure it was 2010.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom G.December 11, 2019 at 9:31 AM

      Thanks a lot, Shelly. Yes, it would have come back through Kansas on its return trip to Wyoming. I've got another batch of images from a day or so later when the locomotive headed back across Missouri to Kansas City. We gave up chasing it once we got to Sedalia, MO.

      Delete

Post a Comment

All comments are now reviewed before publishing on this blog. Comments may not appear on the blog for a day or two.

All images/photographs are copyrighted © by Tom Gatermann. All rights reserved. Contact me. Subscribe.

Popular Posts

CSX M368 with a group of five GECX (ex-BNSF) locomotives at Canastota, NY

-
Image
  CSXT 3206, and five GECX locomotives lead M368 east among the fall foliage at Canastota, NY.   Yesterday, while bike riding, I caught CSX's M368-29 at BeeBe Bridge Road at Canastota, NY. M368 had a group of five GECX locomotives (ex-BNSF) trailing behind CSXT 3206. M368 was photographed as it came around the curve to the west of BeeBe Bridge Road, where the tracks intersect with the old Erie Canal, which is out of sight to the right of the photograph. This location is milepost (MP) QC271 of CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision . The five locomotives are GECX 4528, GECX 4827, GECX 4933, GECX 4851, GECX 4923. A going-away photograph of the five GECX locomotives on M368-29 at BeeBe Bridge Rd. Photograph taken on September 29, 2023.
Read more

A tour of Union Pacific's De Soto carshop

-
Image
 Back in June of 2008, Union Pacific's (UP) Desoto carshop had an open house, so my dad and I headed down to DeSoto, Missouri, to take a tour of the facility. De Soto carshop The settlement of the De Soto area dates back to 1803, and the town of De Soto was later incorporated in 1869. The town's website says that the St. Louis & Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad (StLIM&S) came to the De Soto area in 1859 and built a depot for the town. However, Union Pacific's (UP) website states the railroad came to De Soto in 1857. Perhaps the two-year difference is due to when the railroad was first being built at De Soto and when it was completed. The first carshop was built by the StLIM&S Railway in 1865.  Later the StLIM&S was merged into the Missouri Pacific Railroad , which continued to expand and use the carshop. A tool chest at the UP carshop in Desoto, MO.  Today, the carshop and De Soto Subdivision, which the carshop sits along, are part of UP, which merged w...
Read more

Where to Find Me After G+

-
Where to Find Me After G+ ( Imported from G+ on 2019-Jan-17.) Photo blog: https://photoblog.tomgatermann.com I have exported and archived my G+ posts to this blog, which is where I'll be posting new stuff from now on. I will share those posts to G+, until the G+ shut down occurs, which is currently supposed to happen sometime in April 2019. Update This blog is now my main photo posting location. I have stopped being active on Pluspora and MeWe, and there for have removed the links to those profiles on this page. Updated: 2019-Nov-13.
Read more

CSX 7570 - TRRA Merchants Subdivision - St Louis - July 2008

-
Image
CSXT 7570 - St. Louis, MO CSX 7570 rolls south (away from the camera) on TRRA's Merchants Subdivision , in North St. Louis. CSX 7570 and another locomotive were trying to make a quick run past the mini-Death Star in the background. The large "Death Star" dome is part of Continental Cement Company. This photograph is looking south, from just north of Clinton Street.  CSX 7570 is a  General Electric built C40-8 model locomotive. The locomotive was built in 1989, for the CSX railroad. Since this photograph was taken, the locomotive has been sold off to GECX , a railroad leasing company, and is now GECX 7570. Photograph taken: July 14, 2008, at St. Louis, Missouri.
Read more

SP 214 and SP 8706 - Southern Pacific - Chester Subdivision

-
Image
SP 214 and SP 8706 - Cahokia, IL Southern Pacific 214 sits in the siding, as Southern Pacific 8706 leads a manifest freight south on the Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision. This photograph was taken at Airflite Road , near Parks Airport, now called Downtown St. Louis Airport. SP 8706 and its train have just come through Valley Junction, which is about 1.5 miles north of this location, and is heading toward Union Pacific's Dupo Yard , though, Dupo Yard was not the train's final destination. This shot was taken about a year or so after the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific merger, which occurred in 1996. Both locomotives were owned by Union Pacific, but they had not been patched. This meant that the locomotives retained their full Southern Pacific paint schemes, lettering, and numbering. A patched locomotive is one that will still retain the former railroads paint scheme, but the current owning railroad's reporting marks or name has been applied to the locomo...
Read more