T.G.'s Photography Blog

 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...

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...

NS 9360, NS 8699, and NS 9108 - Santa Fe Junction Norfolk Southern (NS) 9360, NS 8699, and NS 9108 are seen here making a light engine movement through Santa Fe Junction, after having come off the lower level of the Kansas City Terminal's (KCT) Highline Bridge. The train is heading north through the junction on KCT Track 330, as it makes its way toward the West Bottoms area of Kansas City. The locomotives would make their way from Track 330 to either Track 79 or Track 80 for the run north to the West Bottoms. The foreground track, next to Track 330, is Track 79. Highline Bridge approaches In the background of the photograph is the eastern approach to the upper deck of the Highline Bridge at Santa Fe Junction. The Highline Bridge crosses over the Kansas River at Kansas City, Kansas. The upper deck of the bridge allows trains making their way between Kansas City Union Station and BNSF's Fort Scott Subdivision, to the east (left) of the photograph, and Union Paci...

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 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.

NS 9947 at BN Crossing Norfolk Southern 9447 is leading a train westbound on KCT Main 4, through BN Crossing at Santa Fe Junction . The train is crossing over the diamonds that intersect with BNSF's Fort Scott Subdivision. From here the train could have either gone west over the lower deck of KCT's Highline Bridge, over the Kansas River, or it could have taken a turn to the southwest and gone toward BNSF's Argentine Yard in Kansas City, Kansas. The taller bridge is the flyover that connects KCT's tracks by KC Union Station (to the east of here) to BNSF's Argentine Yard (to the west/southwest of Santa Fe Junction). The flyover carries tracks, AC1 and AC2. Before the flyover was built, trains would use the ground level tracks, KCT Main 3 and KCT Main 4 (the one NS 9447 is on) to get between Argentine Yard and the KCT tracks by KC Union Station. The bridge in front of the flyover is the connector track between the Main 2 on the Fort Scott Subdivision ...

UP 7347 and UP 7374 - Highline Bridge - KC Skyline With downtown Kansas City in the background, Union Pacific 7347 and Union Pacific 7374 lead a westbound manifest freight train onto the east approach of the KCT's Highline Bridge . The train will momentarily be crossing over BN Crossing , at Santa Fe Junction, before crossing over the Kansas River, at Kansas City, Kansas. Photo taken: August 27, 2005. Kansas City, Missouri.

UP's KC Metro Subdivision The view in this image is looking toward the southwest, down Union Pacific's K.C. Metro Subdivision from the old Santa Fe Avenue crossing in the West Bottoms area of Kansas City. The nearest railroad crossing in the photo is Mulberry Street, and the furthest crossing is Hickory Street. In the far distance are two railroad bridges that cross over the Kansas River. The road bridge is the James Street bridge, and it is where the Kansas-Missouri state border intersects the rail line. Photo taken: November 9, 2007. Kansas City, Missouri.

UP 6838 - KCT Highline Bridge - Santa Fe Junction - Kansas City Union Pacific 6838 is on the point of an eastbound coal train that is rolling across the upper deck of KCT's Highline Bridge. The train is crossing over the Kansas River, and is nearing the Kansas-Missouri state border, at Santa Fe Junction. The train is approximately 1,000 feet from the state line, where it will cross into Kansas City, Missouri from Kansas City, Kansas. Photo taken: November 9, 2007. Kansas City, Kansas.

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.

Block Signal - West Bottoms - Kansas City, MO The block signal controlling a connector/interchange track between the Union Pacific and BNSF near Forrester Road in the West Bottoms . The highway bridges seen here are the interchange ramps between I-70 and I-35. Photo taken: September 26, 2005. Kansas City, Missouri.

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.

Cedar Rapids at Birmingham, MO The Milwaukee Road Skytop lounge car, Cedar Rapids, brings up the end of Milwaukee Road 261's excursion train at Birmingham Junction . The train was returning to Minneapolis, Minnesota from Kansas City, Missouri. Photo taken: September 26, 2005. Birmingham, Missouri.

The now unused Sheffield Interlocking Tower 8 sits beside the Kansas City Terminal's (KCT) Sheffield Flyover. Sheffield Tower was operated by the KCT but has stood unused for many years. The Sheffield flyover was built to help facilitate the movement of trains through the area, since there are multiple railroad lines that interchanged and crossed the ground level KCT main line tracks.  The flyover runs between Rock Creek Junction (on the eastern end, by I-435) and Belmont Avenue (on the western end). The KCT utilizes both the flyover and ground level tracks to facilitate the movement of trains on its rail corridor between Rock Creek Junction and Santa Fe Junction (to the west of KC Union Station).  Photo taken: September 26, 2005. Kansas City, Missouri.

Milwaukee Road 261 basks in the afternoon sun at Kansas City Union Station. The train was on display after have lead a steam excursion into town. You can see some other posts of mine containing images of 261, by clicking on the Milwaukee Road 261 label below. Photo taken: September 25, 2005. Kansas City, Missouri. Photo © Tom Gatermann

Flyover at Santa Fe Junction This BNSF stack train was heading west over the flyover, also known as the Argentine Connection, at Santa Fe Junction , back in September 2005. This photo was taken from the observation deck of the Liberty Memorial. The Santa Fe Junction area is vast and complex, with three levels of distinct rail lines. The highest level is the flyover, which now serves as the primary way that BNSF trains get from the KCT tracks at Kansas City Union Station (outside of the photograph on the right) to Argentine Yard in Kansas City, Kansas . The flyover carries KCT tracks AC1 and AC2 above the lower levels; the stack train is on track AC2. The middle level, is the KCT Highline Bridge that passes under the flyover, and carries rail traffic over the Kansas River. Once this bridge gets to the Kansas River, it becomes a double-deck bridge. You can see the Highline Bridge as it crosses the Kansas River in the upper right corner. A pair of tracks on the ground ...

A release of water from Union Pacific (UP) 844 occurs while the locomotive undergoes maintenance work, after having recently arrived at Kansas City Union Station. Photo taken: April 4, 2010. Kansas City, Missouri. Photo © Tom Gatermann

Wisconsin Southern 101 sits on the north side of the KCT tracks, across from Kansas City Union Station. The bridge was a former railroad bridge, and from information I found online it was known as the Pencoyd Bridge. It was part of the Kansas City Suburban Belt Railway, and it was originally located near the Missouri River by the Broadway Blvd./US 169 bridge. You can click here to see another of my photographs showing the bridge in its original location. Photo taken: November 15, 2013. Kansas City, Missouri. Photo © Tom Gatermann

A string of three ex-Burlington Northern locomotives , BNSF 3114, BNSF 3115, and BNSF 6368, sit in BNSF's Argentine Yard. This view is from the South 42nd Street overpass. This is not the greatest of images, but the likelihood of seeing three green ex-Burlington Northern locomotives together even in 2004, was getting pretty rare. These locomotives are called patched locomotives, meaning that while they retain the paint scheme of the former railroad, they have been re-lettered, and sometimes re-numbered, with the new owning railroads identifying marks.  BNSF's Argentine Yard is a former Santa Fe Railroad yard, located in Kansas City, KS. The yard is along the BNSF Transcon Route between Chicago, IL. and Los Angeles, CA. The approximate length of the main area of the yard is just about 3.5 miles long, calculated by taking a measurement on Google Maps. Photo taken: June 16, 2004. Kansas City, Kansas.

UP 844, UP 5989, & UP 8288 Union Pacific (UP) 844 rolls west past Union Pacific 5989 and Union Pacific 8288. UP 5989 and UP 8288 are on the point of a coal train that is stopped waiting to proceed east to Kansas City. UP 844 was on its way from Kansas City, MO to Fairbury, NE. Photo taken: May 30, 2006, at Bonner Springs, KS.