T.G.'s Photography Blog

Looking southeast at the Fisher Covered Railroad Bridge.   The Fisher Covered Railroad Bridge was built in 1908, and spans the Lamoille River near Walcott, Vermont. It was built by the St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad. It saw use as a railroad bridge until 1994. Today, the bridge is being converted for recreational use as part of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. The northeast side of the bridge and the Lamoille River.   The Fisher Covered Railroad Bridge is an example of Itheil Town's lattice truss design and features a double-web lattice. A lattice bridge uses small, diagonal supports that form a lattice. Town's lattice design distributed the load across all of the supports, which allowed for the use of lighter-weight wood. The bridge is one of four surviving double-web Town lattice truss bridges in the United States. The other three bridges are Pier Bridge, Wright's Bridge, Contoocook Railroad Bridge. The other three bridges are all located in the state of New Ha...

The Seneca River Montezuma Bridge, commonly called the Montezuma Trestle, spans the Seneca River and part of the Montezuma Marsh on Hog Island, between Savannah, New York, and Montezuma, New York. The bridge is part of CSX's Rochester Subdivision. This line is a former Conrail, Penn Central Railroad, and New York Central Railroad line. The Seneca River at this location is the dividing line between Cayuga County (to the east) and Wayne Country (to the west).  Seneca River and NMWMA at Montezuma Trestle Looking north, at Hog Island (right of the river) as CSXT 3453, CSXT 5461, CSXT 5314, CSXT 7793 lead Q367-15 west. The Seneca River flows from Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes, east and northeast to the Junction of the Three Rivers, north of Syracuse, New York. The Seneca River flows from the south to the north here, but it is not the main river channel at this location anymore. The Erie Barge Canal is the primary channel now. The canal borders Hog Island from the southern t...

The "Green Bridge" is a nickname for a pedestrian bridge in Minoa, New York. The bridge crosses over the eastern edge of CSX's DeWitt Yard and Syracuse Terminal Subdivision between North Main Street and South Main Street. There is no road crossing connecting the two streets, so the bridge allows pedestrians to cross safely over the tracks. It also gives railfans access to safely watch and photograph train movements on the eastern end of DeWitt Yard.  The "Green Bridge" at CP282 Looking at the north access ramp, as an ex-Wisconsin Central boxcar on train Q626-06 begins to roll under the Green Bridge. The Green Bridge earned its nickname because it is painted green. Though these days, the green color is faded, and reddish-brown rust seems to be more prominent. The bridge crosses directly over the top of control point (CP) 282 of CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. The bridge is a popular railfan hangout, even though the bridge can make photography difficult. ...

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...

Last month I came across intermodal train I115-21, as the train was being switched at DeWitt Yard by CSXT 920 and CSXT 280. Train I115 ( formerly Q115 ) is a daily intermodal train that originates in Worcester, MA., and terminates at DeWitt Yard in East Syracuse, NY.  CSX train I115 at DeWitt Yard CSXT 920 sits near an intermodal container crane at DeWitt Yard. I115-21 was working on one of the two departure lead tracks that connect to main Track 1 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS), at CP285 . The train, above, is just to the east of CP285, and the control point sits on the western edge of DeWitt Yard. In the background one of the large intermodal gantry cranes at the yard can be seen. CSXT 920 and CSXT 280 switch train I115-21 at DeWitt Yard. Three minutes later a bit of sun peeked out as CSXT 920 and CSXT 280 were waiting to shove I115-21 back into the intermodal yard. I115-21 was a long train. It was at least a mile and a half in length. The locomotives were near CP285...

  CSXT 2345 and CSXT 6902 at Tenn. Map Plaza CSX 2345 and CSX 6902 are on the point of a switch job working on the bridge over Tennessee Map Plaza. The plaza is located on the southeastern end of Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. On the right side, under the bridge is a gift shop and information center. Out of sight on the left, and also under the bridge, are public restrooms for the park and plaza. The plaza features a 200 feet wide map of Tennessee that is made out of granite. You can see the eastern portion of the large map between the bridge and the smaller map in the foreground of the photograph. Nashville Terminal Subdivision The rail line is part of CSX's Nashville Terminal Subdivision . The subdivision runs between Madison, Tennessee, at the northern end, to Brentwood, Tennessee, on it's southern end. The subdivision is mostly double tracked, but has a few short sections of single track. Northeast of this plaza the line goes to single track for the run over the swin...

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...

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 the spring of 2004, I came across Railroad Switching Service of Missouri's (RSM) newsprint train, which delivered boxcars of newsprint to the St. Louis Post Dispatch in downtown St. Louis. This switching operation utilized the Illinois Terminal's (ITS) former Highline Bridge in North St. Louis, as well as the former ITS subway tunnel under the northern edge of downtown. I was lucky to come across this operation and capture the few images that I did because a few months after I took these images, the delivery of newsprint to the St. Louis Post Dispatch ended in June 2004. I was able to photograph the newsprint delivery operation on a couple of different days, but the following photographs are from only one of those days. RSM 2020 South of Branch Street In the first image, above, RSM 2020 (sometimes referred to as RSSM 2020) shoves a pair of empty boxcars south from Branch Street. The crew would set out the empty boxcars at the southern end of this small rail yard, a...

Southwest Chief at St. Louis, MO Some time ago, on October 17, 2004, Amtrak's Southwest Chief took a detour route through St. Louis, due to a train derailment on its normal route on BNSF's Marceline Subdivision , through central and northern Missouri. The Chief is seen here sitting at the old St. Louis Amtrak Station in downtown St. Louis. This image was captured from the 18th Street bridge, which is just to the west of the station. The highway bridge in the background is Interstate 64/US 40. Today's Routing Usually, the Southwest Chief uses the Marceline Subdivision between Kanas City, Missouri, and Fort Madison, Iowa, and then from Fort Madison heads across northern Illinois to Chicago on the Chillicoth Subdivisoin. For the detour, the Southwest Chief used either Union Pacific's Sedalia Subdivision or River Subdivision , from Kansas City to Jefferson City, Missouri. Then from Jefferson City, the train traveled on Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivisi...

BNSF 4926 leads a train east past the Grand Boulevard Metrolink station, at Grand Interlocking . The train is crossing over Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision , and is coming from BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision and onto TRRA's Merchants Subdivision. BNSF uses the Merchants Subdivision between Grand Interlocking (just west of downtown St. Louis) and North Market Interlocking (in North St. Louis, between North Market and Branch Street). At North Market Interlocking BNSF's trains can get back onto the Hannibal Subdivision. Since this photograph was taken, the Grand Boulevard overpass has been replaced, and the Metrolink station has been rebuilt and reconfigured. The bridge in the background is the old Spring Avenue  overpass, which has since been torn down, but not replaced. The Spring Avenue overpass had been closed for many years prior to being demolished. October 30, 2006. St. Louis, Missouri.

BNSF 5722 and BNSF 637 - Kansas City, MO BNSF 5722 (on the point) and BNSF 637 (trailing) are leading an empty coal train north through the West Bottoms of Kansas City . The train was heading toward the Goose Neck , and after going through the Goose Neck would cross over the Missouri River on the Hannibal Bridge into North Kansas City, Missouri. BNSF 637 was a former Santa Fe locomotive, which at the time of this photograph, was still painted in the famous Santa Fe Warbonnet paint scheme. Photo taken: September 26, 2005, at Kansas City, Missouri.

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...

Years ago while traveling to the Quad Cities area to photograph Iowa Interstate Railway's QJ steam locomotives , my family and I came across the Keokuk and Hamilton Bridge , at Keokuk, Iowa. Originally, the bridge had both a railroad deck and a road deck. However, these days only the railroad deck is still used. Part of the old road deck has been converted to a pedestrian path, but ends at the swing span, which is open in this image to allow river boat traffic to pass. This image's view is looking eastward at the swing span and its control booth, from the Keokuk, Iowa side.I've posted other photographs of this bridge taken at the same time. You can see a few other images that I have taken of the bridge at this link . October 17, 2008. Keokuk, Iowa.