T.G.'s Photography Blog

With snow on the ground, BNSF 6385 (still in Burlington Northern Cascade Green), BNSF 518, BNSF 101 (still in the Warbonnet scheme, but re-lettered to BNSF), & FURX 1161 roll east on BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision, at South Kingshighway Blvd., in St. Louis, Missouri. BNSF 6385 leads a quartet of locomotives east on the Hannibal Subdivision.  The train is about two miles to the east of BNSF's Lindenwood Yard, where it departed from, and is heading toward Grand Avenue Interlocking . Grand Avenue Interlocking is about two miles further east of this location. Lines from BNSF, Union Pacific, and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis all meet there. At Grand Avenue Interlocking the train will get onto TRRA's Merchants Subdivision for a roughly five-mile run, until it reaches North market Interlocking in North St. Louis , where the train will get back onto BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision.  BNSF 6385 is an EMD built SD40-2 . It was built for the Burlington Northern Rai...

CP 5982 and CP 5776 - Gorham, IL Canadian Pacific (CP) 5982 and CP 5776 lead a trailer train under the old signal bridges at Gorham, IL. The train was heading north on Union Pacific's (UP) Chester Subdivision, and it would eventually make its way to the St. Louis area, via Dupo, IL. Both of these locomotives were built as EMD SD40-2 models . CP 5982 was built in January, 1981, and CP 5776 was built in February 1976. These signal bridges date from the days when this line was a former Missouri Pacific (MoPac) line, before the Union Pacific acquired the MoPac in 1982. While both of these signal bridges look to still be visible on Google Maps' satellite view, many of the old MoPac era signal bridges along this line are now gone. The signal bridge in the background (middle right of the photograph) is a cantilever type signal bridge . This train was a surprise, and quite a different sight from the standard parade of Union Pacific Amour Yellow locomotives that haul tra...

Union Pacific 2979 (an EMD SD40-2) and an unknown Norfolk Southern unit lead a trailer train south at mile post 10 on Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision . The train is approaching the DD Road crossing, just to the south of Interstate 255. In the background, the train is passing under the Interstate 255 overpass. From here, the train will continue south on the Chester Subdivision down into southern Illinois, passing through the town of Chester, Illinois, which the rail line is named for. After, continuing south from Chester, it will pass through Gorham, Illinois, where the Union Pacific's Mount Vernon Subdivision meets up with the Chester Subdivision. Eventually, the train will cross over the Mississippi River into Missouri, from Thebes, IL. Once in Missouri, it  will travel on into Arkansas, and most likely on toward Texas. Though, it could also have headed toward the Memphis, Tennessee area. About the image The image was scanned from a Kodak Ektachrome slide, us...

BNSF 643, BNSF 6943, and WC 3026 - Hannibal Subdivision BNSF 643, BNSF 6943, and Wisconsin Central 3026 lead a BNSF manifest freight train east near Sublette Avenue. Painted in a "map" scheme, WC 3026 is WC's 10th anniversary unit that also celebrated Wisconsin's sesquicentennial anniversary of statehood. BNSF 643 is a former Santa Fe locomotive that is still painted in Santa Fe's Warbonne t paint scheme. Photo take: December 24, 2006, at St. Louis, Missouri.

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

On the point of this tank car train is First Union Rail (FURX) 3042, with an ex-Conrail unit. The train is heading north on Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision at Chalfin Bridge, IL . This curve at Chalfin Bridge is a popular spot, at least to me, along the Chester Subdivision, due to the rest of the subdivision being very straight between here and Dupo, IL. (Dupo is approximately twenty-three miles to the north of here). Counting this curve, there are three curves in the rail line between Chalfin Bridge and Dupo. If you take a look at this map at Open Railway Map , you can see that long portions of the Chester Subdivision stretch for miles without a curve. The rail line is also very flat, since it runs through the Mississippi River Valley, through southern Illinois. Update (2019-10-31): First Union Rail was a locomotive and rail car leasing company. In 2015, FURX was purchased by Wells Fargo, and was renamed Wells Fargo Rail. Photo taken: November 12, 2005, at Chalf...

November 10, 2006. Maplewood, Missouri. Union Pacific 3629 (SD40-2) leads train west on the UP's Jefferson City Subdivision. In the background to the left of the train you can see one of the signals for the control point and crossovers at Maplewood, MO. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

October 14, 2007. East St. Louis, Illinois. Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM) 1314 (EMD SDP40) and TFM 1439 (EMD SD40-2) sit in the Gateway Western/KCS yard in East St. Louis, IL. Both TFM and Gateway Western are part of Kansas City Southern. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

March 14, 2004. Kinsman, Illinois. BNSF 7007 (an EMD Sd40-2), still in the Burlington Northern cascade green scheme, leads a manifest freight train west at Burkhart Road on the BNSF's Chilicoth Subdivision at MP 74.13. The original image was captured on Kodak Ektachrome. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

TFM 1437 (EMD SD40-2) sits between Kansas City Southern 670 (EMD SD40-2) and Kansas City Southern 606 (EMD SD40-3) at the KCS yard in East St. Louis, IL.  October 19, 2007. East St. Louis, Illinois.

Westbound at Sublette Avenue October 19, 2007. St. Louis, Missouri. BNSF 8016 (SD40-2), BNSF 1728 (SD9), and BNSF 7299 (SD40-2) are westbound on the BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision, at Sublette Avenue. Photo © Tom Gatermann

BNSF 6951 (an ex-Santa Fe SD40-2 ) descends the West Approach of the Terminal Railroad Association's (TRRA) Merchants Bridge . This view is looking east down Ferry Street. Photo taken: September 21, 2007. St. Louis, MO. Photo © Tom Gatermann

BNSF 643, BNSF 6934, and WC 3026 - Chouteau Avenue BNSF 643, BNSF 6934, and Wisconsin Central 3026 lead train east at Chouteau Avenue. The train is rolling eastward on BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision, and is heading toward TRRA's Grand Interlocking , where it will roll onto TRRA's Merchants Subdivision. BNSF trains on the Hannibal Subdivision use the TRRA's Merchants Subdivision between Grand Interlocking and North Market Interlocking . Painted in a "map" scheme, WC 3026 is WC's 10th anniversary unit that also celebrated Wisconsin's sesquicentennial anniversary of statehood. BNSF 643 is an ex-Santa Fe engine that is still painted in the Warbonnet paint scheme, even though the engine has been patched. BNSF 6943 is an SD40-2 that is painted in BNSF's Heritage I paint scheme. Photo taken: December 24, 2006, at St. Louis, Missouri.

MNA 4080 - Kansas City, MO Missouri and Northern Arkansas 4080 (an EMD SD40-2) is rolling west on Union Pacific's KC Metro Subdivision, north of the River Market area. The bridge nearest to the locomotive in the background is the Berkley Parkway bridge. The bridge behind it is the Heart of America Bridge, which carries Route 9 over the Missouri River. From here, the train was most likely heading toward Union Pacific's yards in Kansas City, Kansas. Either, Armourdale Yard or 18th Street Yard. Photo taken: September 26, 2005. Kansas City, Missouri.

FURX 7258 - St. Louis, MO FURX 7258 (an EMD SD40-2) leads a BNSF freight train west near Vandeventer Avenue. The train is heading west on the BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision and is heading to BNSF's Lindenwood Yard . Photograph taken: April 18, 2005. St. Louis, Missouri.

BNSF 2368 - Barring, MO BNSF 2368 sits in the siding with a work train, while in the distance BNSF 4110 leads a stack train west on BNSF's Marceline Subdivision. BNSF 2368 is an ex-Burlington Northern locomotive that has been patched, but still retains the BN Cascade green paint scheme . Built in 1972, BNSF 2368 is an EMD GP38-2 model. The locomotive was originally built for the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, commonly referred to as the Frisco. The Frisco was merged into the Burlington Northern Railway in 1980. Photo taken: May 26, 2005, at Baring, Missouri.

UP 9910 and UP 3120 - Gateway Yard hump UP 9910 and UP 3120, two EMD SD40-2s, sit on one of the two hump tracks at the Alton and Southern's Gateway Yard . UP 9910 is fitted with remote control equipment so that the operator can be on the ground as the unit goes about its duties. If you look closely you can see the remote operator walking next to the two locomotives. UP 3120, at the time, did not appear to be fitted with remote control equipment. To the left of the locomotives, and between the two hump towers, you see an auto rack car beginning to roll down the other hump track. Cars are pushed over the hump from the left and roll down the right side into what are called bowl tracks, in order to build new trains from trains that arrive at the yard for classification. The speed of the cars as they roll down the hump are controlled by retarders, which apply various amounts of pressure to the rail cars' wheels. Gateway Yard is one of two hump yards in the St. Louis a...

BNSF 7333, FURX 7931, and BNSF 6883 - Dehli, IL BNSF 7333 leads, FURX 7931(ex-Burlington Northern) and BNSF 6883 (ex-Santa Fe) north at Dehli Road on Kansas City Southern's Godfrey Subdivision. The original image was captured on a 35mm transparency and scanned using a Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED film scanner. Post production was done using Nik Software's Dfine 2 and Sharpener Pro 3 in Adobe Photoshop. Photograph taken: Dehli, Illinois, in June 2003.