T.G.'s Photography Blog

Back on a hot summer evening in June of 2008, I was up chasing trains in North St. Louis. While hanging out on Branch Street I heard a train coming north on the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) Merchants Subdivision. It turned out I was lucky enough to catch a BNSF manifest freight train being led by an ex-Santa Fe (SF) Warbonnet locomotive and a Canadian National (CN) cowl unit.  North Market Interlocking I first photograph the train as it rolled north through the TRRA's North Market Interlocking. The interlocking is listed as being at milepost 5.0 of the Merchants Subdivision, per a TRRA timetable. It is located between Branch Street, to the north, and North Market Street, to the south. North Market Interlocking is a junction where BNSF Hannibal Subdivision and a short NS line (now unused) interchange with the TRRA's Merchants Subdivision. The NS line connects on the west side of the interlocking, while the Hannibal Subdivision connects on the east side of th...

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.

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

NS 5575 - St. Louis, MO NS 5575 and NS 5230 are on the point of a transfer train on the TRRA's Merchants Bridge in St. Louis. NS 5575's train had come to a stop, and was waiting for the other train next to it to clear West Approach Interlocking. Once the other train cleared the interlocking, NS 5575 and its train would continue down the approach to May Street Interlocking, and on to Norfolk Southern's Luther Yard in North St. Louis. The train was coming from the TRRA's Madison Yard in the Venice, Illinois, and Madison, Illinois areas. Photograph taken: December 11, 2004, at St. Louis, Missouri.