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.

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...

TRRA 1508 leads a transfer run under the Hampton Avenue Bridge. Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) 1508 leads a transfer job west on BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision. The train is passing under the Hampton Avenue bridge, just to the east of Knox Avenue. The train is about to enter BNSF's Lindenwood Yard .  TRRA 1508 is an EMD SW1500 model locomotive. It was built 1969 for the TRRA. In 2010 TRRA sold its SW1500s and replaced them with higher horsepower locomotives. The SW1500s were sold, I believe, to Progress Rail and shipped down to Georgia. Photograph taken on July 22, 2006, at St. Louis, Missouri.

UP 1988 leads a manifest train east on the Jefferson City Subdivision at Chouteau Avenue.   Union Pacific (UP) 1988 is one of six heritage locomotives painted to commemorate the railroads that UP acquired over the years to create its present-day railroad. UP 1988 commemorates the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad (MKT), nicknamed The Katy. The Katy heritage locomotive's number, 1988, represents the year The Katy merged with the UP railroad. Another shot of UP 1988 passing under Chouteau Avenue in St. Louis, MO.  Per UP's website, The Katy Railroad served six states and had 3,377 miles of track. The railroad was formed in 1865 and was a major connection between the Midwest and Texas.  UP 1988 sits west of Grand Interlocking at Spring Ave., as a crewmember does a roll by inspection.   According to the Katy Railroad Historical Society, there were four eras of diesel locomotive paint schemes. The two middle era paint schemes used two distinct shades of red, which UP...

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. ...

 After a nine-hour chase from Claremore, Oklahoma, to Kansas City, Missouri, Union Pacific's (UP) steam locomotive 844 arrived at Kansas City in the late afternoon of May 28, 2006. The train arrived at Union Station by way of Kansas City Terminal's (KCT) trackage from Sheffield Tower to Union Station. UP 844's arrival at Union Station UP 844 is westbound on KCT Main 4 between Main St. and Broadway Blvd. Sheffield Tower (also known as Sheffield Junction or Control Point (CP) Sheffield) is where UP's KC Metro Subdivision interchanges with and crosses over the Kansas City Terminal's tracks. As well as some trackage belonging to Kansas City Southern and BNSF. UP's Coffeyville Subdivision ends/begins a few miles to the south of Sheffield, and the KC Metro Subdivision connects it with the KCT tracks. UP 844 and the SCEHT are west bound at KCT milepost 7.0, next to Union Station. The famous Western Auto sign is in the background. From Sheffield Tower, UP 844 pulled th...

In the winter of 2004, I caught a Union Pacific local train heading south on the UP Lesperance Industrial Lead and the UP Desoto Subdivision. The train came south out of UP's Lesperance Street Yard in St. Louis, Missouri , and was destined for DeSoto, MO. UP 321 in South St. Louis I spotted the train coming south on the Lesperance Industrial Lead (LIL) along 1st Street, near Potomac Street in South St. Louis. With the train moving slowly I had enough time to turn around and head to Bellerive Park, where the LIL runs between the park's river bluffs and the Mississippi River. Bellerive Park sits up on the bluffs, while the lower level where the tracks are is Sister Marie Charles Park now. UP 321 leads its train south at Bellerive Park and Sr. Marie Charles Park, near Elwood Street. With the train moving slowly, I was able to get to East Steins Street (milepost (MP) 6.3), at Vulcan Street, to catch it coming around the curve there. In the background are some of the old brick build...

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...

 Starting on November 30, 2006, through the early morning of December 1, 2006, St. Louis, Missouri, and surrounding areas got hit by a winter storm. St. Louis escaped the large amounts of snow that other places across Oklahoma, Missouri, and Illinois received, but the region got blanketed with sleet and ice. With a small layer of snow of top. On December 1st, I ventured out to capture some railroad photography.  UP 7114 under Spring Avenue at Grand Interlocking The first photograph of the day was Union Pacific (UP) 7114 sitting under the old Spring Avenue overpass at Grand Interlocking. The train and its crew were waiting to head east off a siding along the Jefferson City Subdivision and through the interlocking. The old Spring Avenue overpass at this time hadn't been used for years, and half of it had already been torn down north of the tracks. Grand Interlocking is a junction of UP's Jefferson City Subdivision, BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision, and the Terminal Railroad Associ...

 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...

 On muggy morning in August 2006, I was exploring along BNSF's Cuba Subdivision in Pacific, Missouri . While out that way, I happened upon one of Loram Technologies' rail grinders working its way east on the Cuba Subdivision. Loram rail grinder RG331 Many companies today offer rail grinding services to the railroad industry. In addition to Loram, Speno, Pandrol Jackson, and Harsco provide the service. But Loram is probably the most well-known of this group. According to an article in Industry Today , Loram was founded in 1954 and got into the rail grinding business back in the 1970s. LMIX RG331 is grinding the rails on BNSF's Cuba Subdivision near MP 32, at Pacific, MO. Rail grinders are essential to maintaining the life of railroad tracks. Over time the profile of the rail head is worn and develops irregulates from contact with train wheels rolling over them. Rail grinding helps to restore the rail's profile and prolongs the life of the rails, as well as the wheels of ...