T.G.'s Photography Blog

UP 7135 is eastbound, rounding the curve at Sutton Blvd. and Greenwood Blvd. Union Pacific (UP) 7135 leads a loaded coal train east on UP's Jefferson City Subdivision. The train is rounding the curve along Greenwood Blvd., at the Sutton Blvd. crossing. The train is on Track 2, just west of Control Point (CP) D007 . The Jefferson City Subdivision runs between its namesake town of Jefferson City, Missouri , the state capital, and St. Louis, Missouri. Photograph taken on July 22, 2006, at Maplewood, Missouri.

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 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. ...

On December 2, 2006, St. Louis, Missouri, and much of the surrounding areas were still covered in ice and snow from a winter storm. The previous day I finished up by taking photographs along the Jefferson City Subdivision in Maplewood, Missouri, so I decided to head back there. When I arrived at Maplewood, I found the subdivision was a parking lot due to the double-track subdivision being reduced to a single-track subdivision between Webster Groves, Missouri, and Pacific, Missouri . A distance of about twenty-five miles.  UP 6066 passing a late Kansas City Mule At Maplewood, I found Amtrak's Kansas City Mule, train 311, and Union Pacific train MASNP. Both trains stopped on Track 1, with the KC Mule only a few hundred feet behind MASNP. The block signal for Track 2 at CPD007 in Maplewood was clear for an eastbound train on Track 2, so I set up to capture the train as it came east past the K.C. Mule.  UP 6606 leads a coal train east on Track 2, past a stopped KC Mule at Big Ben...

Back in 2008, I caught Union Pacific (UP) 6720 and UP 6726, both ex-Chicago and Northwestern (CNW) locomotives, leading a loaded coal train south through Valley Junction in East St. Louis, Illinois . The train was making its way toward UP's Chester Subdivision, which starts on the southern edge of the junction . At this point the majority of the train is still coming down off of the east approach from the MacArthur Bridge . The MacArthur Bridge crosses the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois.  The junction/interlocking is controlled by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA). UP 6720 and UP 6726 lead a loaded coal train at Valley Junction. These locomotives are painted in CNW's Operation Lifesaver (OL) paint scheme. While the two locomotives still retained their CNW OL paint scheme, they had been patched as UP locomotives. You can see under the cab's side windows the new UP markings and locomotive numbers. A patched loc...

CSXT 426 & CSXT 43 sit at MP 126 on the Garrett Subdivision.  Back in September of 2015, I was on a road trip and passed through Garrett, Indiana. During my brief visit to the town, I was able to photograph a parked coal train sitting to the east of town, at the Country Road 19 crossing. There I found CSXT 426 and CSXT 43 sitting parked with a loaded coal train at milepost (MP) 126 of CSX's Garrett Subdivision. The train did not have a crew at the time. The Garrett Subdivision runs from Deshler, Ohio, (on the east end) to the neighborhood of Willow Creek, in Portage, Indiana (on the west end).  It is part of CSX's Chicago Division and was formerly a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) line. At Deshler, the Garrett Subdivision meets the Willard Subdivision. At Willow Creek it meets the Barr Subdivision, and there is a junction with CSX's Porter Branch line. Photograph taken on September 19, 2015, at Garrett, Indiana.

SP 222 near Compton Ave. - December 24, 2004 Southern Pacific (SP) 222 sits along Union Pacific's (UP)  Jefferson City Subdivision  in St. Louis, Missouri. SP 222 was serving as the distributed power unit on a loaded coal train. The train is seen here sitting in a side track between South Theresa Avenue and Compton Avenue. This location is just to the east of Grand Interlocking , where the Jefferson City Subdivision interchanges with the BNSF Hannibal Subdivision and the TRRA Merchants Subdivision. SP 222 at St. Louis, MO. -  December 24, 2004 SP 222 is an AC44CW model, and was built by General Electric in 1995. The locomotive is painted in SP's speed lettering paint scheme. Since these photographs were taken in 2004, SP 222 has now been repainted and renumbered as Union Pacific (UP) 6303, due to UP's merger/take over of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1996. The locomotive was patched as UP 6303 for a while before being completely repainted into UP's color scheme. P...

UP 8214 and SP 338 - Fountain, IL Union Pacific 8214 and Southern Pacific 338 are leading an empty coal train north across Fountain Creek, at Fountain, IL., on Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision. At the time of this photograph SP 338 was still in its Southern Pacific paint scheme, and was un-patched , even though the locomotive was owned by Union Pacific. When a locomotive is refereed to as being patched, it means the locomotive still retains the predecessor railroad's paint scheme, but its numbering has been changed by the railroad that currently owns it.  The train was on its way back to a mine in the Powder River Coal Basin , located in the Western United States. The train would travel north from here to St. Louis, then across Missouri to Kansas City. Then from Kansas City, the train would most likely travel to North Platte, NE, and then on toward a coal mine in Wyoming. Photo taken: June 19, 2004, at Fountain, Illinois.

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.

UP 6071 at Winter Park, CO Union Pacific 6071 leads a loaded coal train east on UP's Moffat Subdivision, near Timberhouse Road in Winter Park, Colorado. This heavy coal train could be heard climbing the grade for miles, as it made its way toward the Moffat Tunnel, from the west. At this point, the train was about half a mile away from the west portal of the tunnel. From here the train will continue on toward the Denver, Colorado area, however, its final destination is unknown to me. Photo taken: August 25, 2005. Winter Park, Colorado.

UP 7162 at Columbia, IL In the late afternoon light, Union Pacific 7162 is leading a loaded coal train south on Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision . The train has just left Dupo Yard to the north, and it is nearing the BB Road crossing, which is just north of Interstate 255. The red block signals in the distance are on the southern end of Dupo Yard, at what is commonly referred to as Bixby. The original image was a 35mm transparency that was converted to digital using a copy slide setup. Photo taken: Circa 2000. Columbia, Illinois.

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 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...

BNSF 9833 works as the distributed power unit (DPU) on an east bound coal train, while a Norfolk Southern train and another BNSF train wait their turn to roll through Birmingham Junction .  The BNSF's Brookfield Subdivision and Norfolk Southern's Kansas City District share tracks between North Kansas City, Missouri and Birmingham, Missouri. Way back when I took this image, Birmingham Junction was easily accessible. The last time I was there around 2013 or 2014, the access road, from which I took this image, was closed off and no trespassing signs were posted. This image was captured on Kodak 400 Royal Gold film and scanned on a Nikon Coolscan film scanner. The resulting scan was saved as a Nikon NEF RAW file, which was then post processed in Adobe Camera RAW and Adobe Photoshop. Photo taken: Spring 2001. Birmingham, Missouri.

Union Pacific 6578 and Union Pacific 7253 lead a coal train east on Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision . The train is crossing a bridge, over the Meramec River, just beyond the two block signals. Photo Taken: April 22, 2008. Crescent, Missouri.

Union Pacific (UP) 6826 works as the distributed power unit (DPU) on this loaded coal train that is rolling east on the UP's Jefferson City Subdivision. The train is passing through the Knox Avenue Crossing, and passing under the Hampton Avenue Overpass. February 26, 2006. St. Louis, Missouri.

Union Pacific 5976 is working as the DPU on this south bound load coal train, which is crossing over the Kaskaskia River on UP's Chester Subdivision. March 3, 2006. South of Modoc, Illinois.

Union Pacific 6502 is the lone unit on this westbound empty coal train, rolling along side the Missouri River at Jefferson City, MO. In the background the dome of the Missouri capital building can be seen. June 1, 2011. Jefferson City, Missouri. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

UP 7142 - Sherman, MO Leading an empty coal train west over the Meramec River on Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision is UP 7142. The train was heading to the Power River Coal Basin for another load of coal. While, I was on the wrong side of the bridge to get the best light, I'm still fairly happy with this shot. This was taken with an older Canon 20D. Sometimes, given the age of that camera, it amazes me what it could pull off. January 8, 2006. Sherman, Missouri. Photo © Tom Gatermann. All rights reserved.

Union Pacific (UP) 5914 leads UP train CCFNA-15 west on UP's Jefferson City Subdivision, at Papin Street. The locomotives have just passed through Grand Interlocking , located just to the east of this location. Train CCFNA-15 is an empty coal train returning to North Antelope Mine in the Powder River Coal Basin of Wyoming, from a power plant at Coffeen, Illinois (located on the Norfolk Southern). The tracks in the foreground of the image are part of Sarpy Yard. Photo taken: September 15, 2007. St. Louis, Missouri.