T.G.'s Photography Blog

  CSXT 1850 and BNSF 6901 are on the point of manifest train M380 at CP-286 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. M380 is stopped on Track 8, waiting for room at DeWitt Yard. Next to M380 is I003 taking head room on Track 1 at CP-286 as it gets in position to start working DeWitt Yard.  CSXT 1850 honors the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N). The L&N was founded in Kentucky in 1850. and grew to serve fourteen states. Eventually, the L&N through a series of mergers became part of CSX.  Photograph taken on November 2, 2024, at East Syracuse, NY.

BNSF 4779 leads a grain train north under I-255, on the Chester Subdivision at CP D009.   Back in 2006 it was common to see BNSF trackage rights trains on Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision . I'm not sure if it is still the case today, as I've been away from the St. Louis area for many years now. Above, BNSF 4779 is leading this northbound grain train at Control Point (CP) D009 at Columbia, Illinois. A short while later, the train passes under CP D006's old Missouri Pacific cantilever signal bridges at UP's Dupo Yard. BNSF 4779 passes under the cantilever signal bridges at CPD006, at Dupo Yard. Photographs taken on July 23, 2006, at Columbia, IL., and Dupo, IL.

BNSF 9293 leads a manifest train west at S. Kingshighway Blvd.   BNSF 9293 is a SD60M , which was delivered to the Burlington Northern (BN) Railroad in 1991. When this photograph was taken the locomotive had been "patched" with BNSF on the sides of the locomotive's cab. According to the Friends of the Burlington Northern, the order of locomotives numbered 9200 to 9298 are the only new units delivered to the BN in this paint scheme. Other locomotive classes were repainted in this scheme.    I caught BNSF 9293 as it was leading a manifest freight train east on BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision near the South Kingshighway Blvd. overpass in St. Louis, Missouri. The train had recently left BNSF's Lindenwood Yard, located a few miles to the west of this location. In a few miles it would pass through Grand Interlocking , where it would get onto the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis' tracks to continue east and north before getting back onto the Hannibal Subdivi...

In this view from Boulder Road, BNSF 9981 is the DP on a northbound empty coal train rolling onto the causeway at Boulder, IL.   BNSF's Beardstown Subdivision, which runs between West Bushnell, Illinois, and Paducah, Kentucky, crosses Carlyle Lake in Southern Illinois on a causeway. The causeway runs between the towns of Boulder, Illinois, and Keyesport, Illinois. Boulder is at the southeastern end of the causeway, and Keyesport is at the northwestern end. Keyesport is at milepost (MP) 104.5, and Boulder is at MP 108.6, approximately. The causeway is about four miles in length. Four bridges along the causeway allow boats to pass under the tracks. BNSF 9731 is the DP on an empty coal train heading north over the southernmost bridge of the causeway. Photograph taken on April 14, 2005, at Boulder, Illinois.

BNSF 816 and BNSF 751 are southbound at the riverfront at Hannibal, MO. After making my way north along BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision from St. Louis, Missouri, I arrived at the subdivision's namesake town of Hannibal, Missouri. From the lookout atop Lovers' Leap, I spotted BNSF 816 and BNSF 751 leading a manifest freight south through the riverfront, along the Mississippi River. BNSF 816 and BNSF 751 with the Mississippi River in the background. In the background are the I-72 bridge and Norfolk Southern's lift bridge. Hannibal, Missouri, has two railroads that run through it. In addition to BNSF, Norfolk Southern's (NS) Springfield-Hannibal District crosses the Mississippi River between Missouri and Illinois. BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision crosses NS' Springfield-Hannibal District at a diamond crossing on the western side of the lift bridge. Going west from the diamond, the Hannibal District curves through a tunnel and rock-cut to the south before paralleling th...

In December 2006, at the east end of BNSF's Lindenwood Yard, I found a trio of locomotives that piqued my interest. The trio featured BNSF 643 (an ex-Santa Fe Warbonnet), BNSF 6934 (an SD40-2), and Wisconsin Central (WC) 3026, the heritage map anniversary locomotive. BNSF 643 is the lead locomotive on an eastbound/northbound manifest train at Lindenwood Yard. BNSF 643 (a C44-9W) was built in 1994 for the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) as ATSF 643. The locomotive was patched sometime after the Burlington Northern (BN) and Santa Fe merger. As of November 2019, BNSF 643 was still wearing its Warbonnet paint scheme , even though it was considerably more worn and faded. BNSF 643, BNSF 6934, and WC 3026 are eastbound along the River des Peres, at Sublette Ave. Built as ATSF 5191 in 1981 by Electromotive Division, BNSF 6943 was renumbered and repainted sometime after the BNSF-SF merger. The locomotive is an SD40-2, which is one of EMD's most popular freight locomotives ...

BNSF 9643, in BN's Executive paint scheme, leads a coal train south on the main track near MP 69 at Elsberry, MO. In July 2006, I drove along BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision from St. Louis, Missouri, to Hannibal, Missouri. In a span of thirty minutes, I photographed three trains at Elsberry, Missouri. After the feast of southbound trains, I wouldn't see another train until I got to Hannibal, Missouri. BNSF 9393 (SD70ACe) is the DP unit on BNSF 9643's train at Elsberry, MO. The Hannibal Subdivision is a signal-track rail line between St. Louis, Missouri , and Burlington, Iowa. Elsberry, Missouri, is about sixty miles north of St. Louis. The town is at milepost (MP) 68.2 of the Hannibal Subdivision, and the mileposts count up from St. Louis to Burlington.  Between St. Louis and Hannibal, the rail line closely follows Missouri Highway 79. Most of the Hannibal Subdivision north of St. Louis runs across the  flat farmland  that borders the western side of the Mississippi River. ...

  When I arrived at DeWitt Yard's western end, CSX train M367-07 was sitting on the North Runner . It was led by BNSF 7268 and CSXT 941. The orange pumpkin was a nice splash of vibrant color and a change of pace from the standard CSX blue here.  M367-07 at DeWitt Yard BNSF 7268 & CSXT 941 sit on the head end of a stopped M367-07 on the North Runner at DeWitt Yard.   Train M367 is the new symbol that took effect at midnight on June 4, 2022, and replaced the old train symbol Q367 . This prefix symbol change is another that CSX has implemented over the last nine months. The "M" stands for manifest. M367, like Q367 was, is a daily manifest freight train that originates at CSX's Selkirk Yard in Selkirk, New York. The train's final destination is Chicago, Illinois. Along the way, M367 stops at DeWitt Yard to set out and pick up freight cars. According to a friend, if you don't hear the crew call out the train's symbol, a common way to identify M367 is if you...

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 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 Norf...

 On Memorial Day Weekend in 2007, I was in Kansas City, Missouri, visiting friends. While visiting, one of my friends and I ventured out to the West Bottoms of Kansas City for a photography outing. There we happened upon a northbound BNSF train hauling newly built Boeing 737 fuselages. The Boeing 737 fuselages The fuselages on this train are B737 Next Generation (NG) models. The B737 NG was first produced in 1996.  Boeing's 737 fuselages are built at Spirit AeroSystems' (SA) plant in Wichita, Kansas. According to SA's website, the company was founded when Boeing sold its Wichita plant to SA in 2005. SA then continued building fuselages at the plant for Boeing. After the fuselages are built by SA they take a train ride to Boeing's assembly plant at Renton, Washington. Looking south toward the 12th Street viaduc t, as the Boeing train rolls north through the West Bottoms. Route of the fuselages BNSF uses specially modified flatcars, like the ones seen in the photographs h...

Back on a hot summer evening in June of 2008, I was up chasing trains in North St. Louis. While hanging out on Branch Street I heard a train coming north on the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) Merchants Subdivision. It turned out I was lucky enough to catch a BNSF manifest freight train being led by an ex-Santa Fe (SF) Warbonnet locomotive and a Canadian National (CN) cowl unit.  North Market Interlocking I first photograph the train as it rolled north through the TRRA's North Market Interlocking. The interlocking is listed as being at milepost 5.0 of the Merchants Subdivision, per a TRRA timetable. It is located between Branch Street, to the north, and North Market Street, to the south. North Market Interlocking is a junction where BNSF Hannibal Subdivision and a short NS line (now unused) interchange with the TRRA's Merchants Subdivision. The NS line connects on the west side of the interlocking, while the Hannibal Subdivision connects on the east side of th...

With snow on the ground, BNSF 6385 (still in Burlington Northern Cascade Green), BNSF 518, BNSF 101 (still in the Warbonnet scheme, but re-lettered to BNSF), & FURX 1161 roll east on BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision, at South Kingshighway Blvd., in St. Louis, Missouri. BNSF 6385 leads a quartet of locomotives east on the Hannibal Subdivision.  The train is about two miles to the east of BNSF's Lindenwood Yard, where it departed from, and is heading toward Grand Avenue Interlocking . Grand Avenue Interlocking is about two miles further east of this location. Lines from BNSF, Union Pacific, and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis all meet there. At Grand Avenue Interlocking the train will get onto TRRA's Merchants Subdivision for a roughly five-mile run, until it reaches North market Interlocking in North St. Louis , where the train will get back onto BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision.  BNSF 6385 is an EMD built SD40-2 . It was built for the Burlington Northern Rai...

While out and about today, I heard a CSX "K" train call out over the radio feed. A  "K" train  on CSX is a bulk commodity train, such as a  tank car  train carrying oil or ethanol. When the crew called out for a clear signal, they called out BNSF 5192 as the train's leader. Foreign power (another railroad's locomotive) is fairly rare these days on the CSX Rochester Subdivision due to CSX trying to limit foreign power on the railroad, so I decided to try and catch it. BNSF 5192 leading CSX train K636-12 The youngest and I headed over to Warners, New York, and wound up getting to the Herman Road crossing just as the headlight of BNSF 5192 was just beyond the bridge in the background. Within a few minutes, K636-12 rolled east on Track 2 of the Rochester Subdivision. This stretch of track is between milepost (MP) QC299 and MP QC300. K636 is a loaded ethanol train that runs from Bensenville, Illinois, to Linden, New Jersey. The train is handed off to CSX from Ca...

BNSF 8724 - crossing Hall Street toward Luther Yard On a few days in June 2007, I headed up to North St. Louis to see if there was any railroading action going on around Norfolk Southern's Luther Yard. On one of those days I was driving north on Hall Street when I saw the RR crossing lights start to flash for the transfer track between the BNSF's North St. Louis Yard and Norfolk Southern's Luther Yard. I pulled the car over quickly to the side of the road and was able to grab a couple of photographs as BNSF 8724 crossed Hall Street leading a transfer train to Luther Yard. This is one of the few images I have ever gotten of a train using this transfer track. The track is not a long one, as the two yards are only about three tenths of a mile (approximately half a kilometer) apart. At Luther Yard Next I headed over to Carrie Avenue on the south end of Norfolk Southern's Luther Yard in North St. Louis. Not much was going on at the time but I was able to captu...

BNSF 662, BNSF 4954, and BNSF 5442 - Fort Scott Sub. BNSF 662, BNSF 4954, and BNSF 5442 lead a train north on the Fort Scott Subdivision in the Marais Des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge . This photograph was taken along Stillwell Road, about halfway between Lacygne, Kansas, and Pleasanton, Kansas, and just to the west of Trading Post, Kansas. Lacygne is milepost 62.5 and Pleasanton is milepost 74.0 on the BNSF Fort Scott Subdivision .  BNSF 662, BNSF 4954, and BNSF 5442 All three of the locomotives on this train were built by General Electric and are the same model/type, C44-9W.  BNSF 662 is a former Santa Fe Railway locomotive that at the time of the photograph was still painted in the Warbonnet paint scheme . BNSF 662 was built in September, 1994; BNSF 4954 was built in December, 1998; and BNSF 5442 was built in July, 2000. BNSF 4954 and 5442 are painted in BNSF's Heritage II paint scheme. BNSF Fort Scott Subdivision The BNSF Fort Scott Subdivision runs betwe...

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...

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. ...

BNSF 5504 at North Market Interlocking - St. Louis, MO BNSF 5504 leads a train northbound at TRRA's North Market Interlocking . The locomotives have just come off of the Terminal Railroad Association's (TRRA) Merchants Subdivision (which is just beyond the block signal) and onto the BNSF's Hannibal subdivision, at Branch Street , in North St. Louis, Missouri. BNSF Railway trains utilize the TRRA Merchants Subdivision for about five miles, between North Market Interlocking and Grand Interlocking. Both interlockings are controlled by the TRRA. Grand Interlocking is located a few miles west of downtown St. Louis, and is a junction of the Merchants Subdivision, BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision, and Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision. Photo taken: August 22, 2006, at St. Louis, Missouri.

BNSF 4424 and BNSF 5671 - Kansas City, MO BNSF 4424 and BNSF 5671 lead an empty coal train under the interchange approaches between Interstate 35 and Interstate 70 in the West Bottoms area of Kansas City. The train is heading north and will make its way through the " Goose Neck ", which is just around the bend ahead, and then across the Hannibal Bride over the Missouri River. After crossing the river, the train will arrive at BNSF's Murray Yard in North Kansas City, Missouri.The train came up through BN Crossing at Santa Fe Junction , on BNSF's Fort Scott Subdivision. Photo taken: Kansas City, Missouri. September 26, 2005.

In this first photograph, BNSF 7824 and BNSF 7039 are seen sitting on the BNSF Hannibal Subdivision (the tracks curving in from the left side) at Grand Interlocking. The train was waiting for clearance to proceed east, through the interlocking and onto the TRRA Merchants Subdivision. The other set of tracks that curve in from the right side of the photograph are Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision. After the BNSF train makes its way onto the TRRA Merchants Subdivision , it will head toward north St. Louis, where the train will get back on to the Hannibal Subdivision at North Market Interlocking. The road way in the photograph is the Chouteau Avenue overpass. This second image shows a closer view of the BNSF train as it sits waiting to proceed through the interlocking. Grand Interlocking is one of the busiest railroad junctions in the St. Louis area. Amtrak, BNSF, TRRA, and UP trains all pass through this junction. Amtrak trains that pass through the interlocking ...