T.G.'s Photography Blog

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.

 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...

TRRA 1239 - Brooklyn, IL Terminal Railroad Association (TRRA) 1239 is on the point of a train switching on the south side of TRRA's Madison Yard. Trains that are switching on the south side of the yard will often pull down toward the crossing at Canal Street/Bend Road (where this shot was taken from) and then make a back up move into the yard. TRRA 1239 is an EMD built SW1200 series locomotive that was built in April of 1965, according to RR Picture Archives (an external link, which will open in a new browser window). MRS boxcars Behind the locomotives are three old Manufacture's Railway (MRS) boxcars. The MRS was a small local St. Louis switching railroad that was originally owned by Anheuser-Busch. When InBev bought Anheuser-Busch, it sold the MRS Railway off to Foster Townsend Rail Logistics, Incorporated. Photo taken: February 26, 2006. Brooklyn, Illinois.

TRRA 1517 , TRRA 1503 , and TRRA 1510 are on the point of a train making a switching move, on the eastern approach to the Merchants Bridge over IL Route 3. The train was performing switching operations at TRRA's Madison Yard , which is about a half a mile east of this location. The train stopped over Route 3, and then made a back up move toward the yard. The Merchants Bridge crosses over the Mississippi River between Venice, IL. and St. Louis, MO. Photo taken: February 26, 2006. Venice, Illinois.

TRRA 2005 and TRRA 2008 lead a small train of private passenger cars south on the river front high line, which is part of  the TRRA Merchants Subdivision. The passenger cars were destined, I believe, for the Amtrak Station in downtown St. Louis. In the background a small boat is heading down the Mississippi River, between the Martin Luther King Bridge and the Eads Bridge. Photo taken: October 7, 2011. St. Louis, MO.

TRRA 3005 - Cahokia, IL TRRA 3005 and another TRRA locomotive are seen here on the point of a southbound transfer train that is on Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision at Airflite Road (update: now named Air Flight Avenue per a street sign). The train came down the TRRA's Illinois Transfer Sub to Valley Junction in East St. Louis, where it then got onto the UP Chester Subdivision. The train came south down the Chester Subdivision in order to make a back up move into the Alton And Southern's Gateway Yard, which is north of here at Valley Junction . Photo taken: January 9, 2005. Cahokia, Illinois.

TRRA 1517 is on the point of a local doing some switching at TRRA's North Market Interlocking, on the TRRA's Merchants Subdivision, south of Branch Street. North Market Interlocking is where BNSF Hannibal Subdivision joins the Merchants Subdivision, in north St. Louis. The track on the left side of the image, behind the yellow hopper, is the BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision.  In the background is the old Illinois Terminal Highline Bridge . The Highline Bridge is an almost mile long bridge that snakes its way across north St. Louis between Branch Street, on the north end, and Hadley Street, on the southern end. The bridge's northern approach comes down to grade level at Branch Street, about a block or two to the left of where this photograph was taken. BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision also crosses Branch Street , next to the Highline Bridges north approach. Photo taken: December 11, 2004. St. Louis, Missouri.

TRRA 1503 - St. Louis, MO TRRA 1503 leads its train under Adelaide Avenue on the TRRA West Belt Subdivision, in North St. Louis, Missouri. This train had made its way from the TRRA's Madison Yard in Illinois, across the Merchants Bridge over the Mississippi River into St. Louis, and then onto the West Belt Subdivision. The train was making its way north to North Belt Junction, at Carrie Avenue. At North Belt Junction the TRRA North Belt Subdivision and the West Belt Subdivision interchange with each other. TRRA 1503 According to RR Pictures Archives, TRRA 1503 was built in 1967, for the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. The locomotive is an EMD SW1500 model. Today, the locomotive is owned by GMTX leasing, and is now numbered as GMTX 149. The TRRA, a few years ago, sold off their switcher model locomotives and bought larger locomotives with more horsepower to handle its switching operations. TRRA West Belt Subdivision The West Belt Subdivision runs betwe...