T.G.'s Photography Blog

As I was digging through my old film archives I came across this shot from the early 1990s. Here the locomotives of two fallen flags lead a manifest freight west on the Union Pacific's Sedalia Subdivision (now named the Jefferson City Subdivision) at Knox Avenue in St. Louis, MO. On the point is St. Louis and Southwestern (Cotton Belt) 7280. I cannot make out the second unit's number, but the locomotive is a Rio Grande unit. The third unit I believe was a lease unit. Originally, the Sedalia Subdivision ran from Gratiot Tower (now called Gratiot Interlocking) in St. Louis, MO. to Rock Creek Junction, in Kansas City, MO. At some point after 1995, the subdivision was split up, and the eastern portion of the subdivision from Jefferson City to St. Louis was renamed the Jefferson City Subdivision. I'm not sure when the name change occurred, but a Union Pacific timetable I have from 1995, still lists the portion of the subdivision from Jefferson City to St. Louis as being p...

March 5, 2007. St. Louis, Missouri. BNSF 4416 leads a train south on the TRRA's Merchants Subdivision, in front of the old St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt) freight depot that is just north of Laclede's Landing. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

May, 1997. Cahokia, Illinois. Union Pacific 9293 (a GE C40-8) and five Cotton Belt and Southern Pacific locomotives sit with their respective trains at Airflite Drive. The lead Cotton Belt locomotive is St. Louis and Southwestern (SSW) 8049 (a GE B40-8). Behind SSW 8049 are Southern Pacific 8011, Southern Pacific 5103, and two other SP engines whose numbers I can't make out. The image was originally captured on Kodak Ektachrome film. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

BNSF 6868 and BNSF 6384 - Merchants Sub - St. Louis, MO Still painted in their pre-merger paint schemes, BNSF 6868 and BNSF 6384 lead a northbound train past the old Cotton Belt (St. Louis & Southwestern RR) freight depot just north of Laclede's Landing in St. Louis. BNSF 6868 is a former Santa Fe Railway locomotive that is still painted in the Blue/Yellow Bonnet scheme. The locomotive is an SD40-2 that was built by the Electro Motive Division (EMD) of General Motors in 1980. BNSF 6384 is a former Burlington Northern locomotive still painted in BN's Cascade Green scheme . The locomotive is also an SD40-2, but was built by EMD in 1984. Photograph taken: January 8, 2005, at St. Louis, Missouri.