T.G.'s Photography Blog

With the Gateway Arch in the background, BNSF 8016 is seen here heading west on the TRRA's Merchants Subdivision. There are actually two railroad bridges here. In the foreground is the Union Pacific's high line to Lesperance Street Yard, and the Merchants Subdivision's bridge right behind the UP bridge. Below them is Interstate 55 and Interstate 70. Photo taken: October 19, 2007. Saint Louis, Missouri. Photo © Tom Gatermann

Looking up the north leg of the Gateway Arch. Photo taken: December 26, 2012. St. Louis, Missouri.

Union Pacific 5561 waits on UP's Springfield Subdivision , near S. 19th Street, with the Gateway Arch in the background. The train was waiting for clearance to proceed east to Valley Junction , where it would take an interchange track and roll onto the Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision to head south.Valley Junction is a major junction in the St. Louis area. Photo taken: November 3, 2006. East St. Louis, Illinois.

MRS Second Street Trackage - St. Louis, MO Some old Manufacturers Railway street trackage is rusting away in South Second Street, at the entrance to an old chemical plant in South St. Louis, Missouri. Photo taken: January 28, 2012, at St. Louis, Missouri.

October 20, 2007. Sauget, Illinois. Loaded coal hoppers, on a Union Pacific train, sit along the UP's Chester Subdivision, with downtown St. Louis in the background. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

With the Gateway Arch and part of the downtown St. Louis skyline in view, Union Pacific 8024 is seen here on a coal train that is parked on the TRRA's Merchants Subdivision, near Compton Avenue. UP 8024 was the distributed power unit (DPU) on this coal train. Next to the coal train, a BNSF manifest train makes its way west. This location is just to the east of Grand Interlocking , where the Merchants Subdivision, as well as the BNSF Hannibal Subdivision, and Union Pacific Jefferson City Subdivision all interchange with each other. Photo taken: June 12, 2007, at St. Louis, Missouri.

With the Arch in the Background October 31, 2006. St. Louis, Missouri. With the Gateway Arch in the background, BNSF 6042 and BNSF 5613 lead an empty coal train east on the Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision, near Compton Avenue. Normally, BNSF trains use the TRRA's Merchants Subdivision, which is just behind the BNSF train. In the image you can see a loaded coal train parked on the Merchants Subdivision. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

NS 8925 & UP 9765 at Gateway Yard with the Gateway Arch. Norfolk Southern 8925 and Union Pacific 9765 are on the point of a manifest train that is making its way through the Alton & Southern's Gateway Yard, with the downtown St. Louis' skyline in the background. Gateway Yard is one of two hump and classification yards in the St. Louis area. The other hump yard is the TRRA's Madison Yard , located in Madison, IL an Venice, IL. The Gateway Yard's western end is at Valley Junction in East. St. Louis, IL., while the eastern end of the yard is in Alorton, IL. In 1968, the Missouri Pacific and the Chicago & North Western railroads purchased the Alton & Southern and operated the railroad jointly. Today, the Alton & Southern is owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, which now owns both the Missouri Pacific and Chicago & North Western railroads. Photo taken: December 24, 2006. Alorton, Illinois. Post External Links:  About The Alton &...

UP 4856 and UP 7353 - St. Louis, MO With the Gateway Arch and part of downtown St. Louis in the background, Union Pacific 4856 and Union Pacific 7353 lead a train westbound at 21st Street on Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision.  The train has just passed through Gratiot Interlocking, after having crossed over the Mississippi River on the MacArthur Bridge, and is heading toward Grand Interlocking . From here the train will travel across Missouri to the Kansas City area. UP 4856 is leading the train past Union Pacific's 12th Street Yard , which is sandwhiched between the Jefferson City Subdivision (on the south side) and TRRA's Merchants Subdivison (on the north side).   The building in the background, with the arch behind it, was an old warehouse that was painted to look like it had sculptures and stone work on it. It is currently a Sheraton Hotel. Photograph taken: April 15, 2005. St. Louis, Missouri.

FXE 4655 - Cahokia, IL With the Gateway Arch in the background, Ferromex (FXE) 4655 leads BNSF Railway train UBIRSEM north on Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision. The train is an empty taconite (iron ore) train heading back to Steelton, Minnesota (SEM), from Birmingham, Alabama (BIR). The "U" in the trains identification means unit train. The train is just south of Valley Junction, in East St. Louis, Illinois. I'm unsure of the train's routing, but the train probably utilized the TRRA's Illinois Transfer Subdivision at Valley Junction to head north to Madison Yard. I would usually see UBIRSEM's counterpart train, USEMBIR, heading south out of St. Louis via the BNSF River Subdivision. I believe that the River Subdivision was also UBIRSEM's normal northward routing to St. Louis. Photo taken: October 7, 2007. Cahokia, Illinois.