FURX 7227 (ex-BN), BNSF 159 (ex-SF), and BNSF 7129 at St. Louis, MO

-

On February 10, 2007, I was railfanning along TRRA's Merchants Subdivision in North St. Louis. While near North Market Street and North 1st Street, I spotted a train to the north coming south off the Merchants Bridge near Bremen Avenue. The green color of the locomotive in the far distance indicated to me that a former Burlington Northern locomotive was leading the train.

Southbound at North Market Street

The train came south approaching North Market Interlocking featuring a colorful lash up featuring FURX 7227 (ex-BN), BNSF 159 (ex-Santa Fe), and BNSF 7129. The train is a transfer run from TRRA's Madison Yard in Venice, Illinois, to BNSF's Lindenwood Yard in southwestern St. Louis, Missouri.

FURX 7227 (ex-BN, BNSF), BNSF 159 (ex-SF), and BNSF 7129 pass Grossman Iron & Steel
FURX 7227 (ex-BN), BNSF 159 (ex-ATSF), and BNSF 7129 pass Grossman Iron & Steel.

First Union Rail (FURX) 7227 is an SD40-2, built by Electro-Motive Division (EMD) for Burlington Northern (BN) in 1980. After working for BN, the locomotive became FURX 7227 before being sold to Norfolk Southern (NS). In February 2021, the locomotive was sold to Progress Rail.  

Continuing west past downtown St. Louis

After the train passed North Market Interlocking, I gave chase to catch it when it passed the downtown St. Louis skyline along Chouteau Avenue. At Chouteau Avenue and Compton Avenue, I photographed the train as it passed with the Gateway Arch in the background. 

FURX 7227, BNSF 159, and BNSF 7129 pass downtown St. Louis and the Arch
FURX 7227, BNSF 159, and BNSF 7129 pass downtown St. Louis and the Arch.

BNSF 159 is a GP60M built by EMD for the Santa Fe in 1990. The locomotive at this time still featured the Santa Fe Warbonnet paint scheme but had been patched with BNSF lettering. The BN and SF merger became official on December 31, 1996, as the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. This name was later shortened to just BNSF Railway in 2005.

FURX 7227, BNSF 159, and BNSF 7129 pass the Metrolink maintenance facility at Jefferson Ave
FURX 7227, BNSF 159, and BNSF 7129 pass the Metrolink maintenance facility at Jefferson Ave.

BNSF 7129, like FURX 7227, is an EMD SD40-2. 7129 was built as BN 7129 in 1979. Sometime around 2010 the locomotive was renumbered to BNSF 1928 because a newer BNSF locomotive was number as 7129.

Photographs taken on February 10, 2007, at St. Louis, Missouri.

Comments

  1. Shelly GApril 29, 2022 at 8:58 AM

    Nice BNSF action! I especially like the shot with the Arch. Nicely done.

    ReplyDelete

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

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

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

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