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.

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...

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...

SP 222 near Compton Ave. - December 24, 2004 Southern Pacific (SP) 222 sits along Union Pacific's (UP)  Jefferson City Subdivision  in St. Louis, Missouri. SP 222 was serving as the distributed power unit on a loaded coal train. The train is seen here sitting in a side track between South Theresa Avenue and Compton Avenue. This location is just to the east of Grand Interlocking , where the Jefferson City Subdivision interchanges with the BNSF Hannibal Subdivision and the TRRA Merchants Subdivision. SP 222 at St. Louis, MO. -  December 24, 2004 SP 222 is an AC44CW model, and was built by General Electric in 1995. The locomotive is painted in SP's speed lettering paint scheme. Since these photographs were taken in 2004, SP 222 has now been repainted and renumbered as Union Pacific (UP) 6303, due to UP's merger/take over of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1996. The locomotive was patched as UP 6303 for a while before being completely repainted into UP's color scheme. P...

UP 3985 - Chester Subdivision - Columbia, IL Back in October of 2010, Union Pacific's Challenger 3985 came to St. Louis, Missouri. On October 7, the steam locomotive took an excursion train south to Gorham, Illinois , and then back to St. Louis. The first photograph, above, is of the locomotive as it heads south on the Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision at Columbia, Illinois. This was the only photograph I managed to get of the locomotive on the outbound trip to Gorham. The train was traveling at a fast pace, and due to a road closure at Chester, Illinois, my dad and I could not keep with it. So, after lunch in Chester, we found a photographic spot to capture UP 3985 from on the return trip. UP 3985 - Kaskaskia River - Chester Subdivision After Union Pacific 3985 got to Gorham, Illinois, it was turned around on the wye tracks between the Chester Subdivision and the Mount Vernon Subdivision. It then began its journey back to St. Louis. On the return journey we c...

In this first photograph, BNSF 7824 and BNSF 7039 are seen sitting on the BNSF Hannibal Subdivision (the tracks curving in from the left side) at Grand Interlocking. The train was waiting for clearance to proceed east, through the interlocking and onto the TRRA Merchants Subdivision. The other set of tracks that curve in from the right side of the photograph are Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision. After the BNSF train makes its way onto the TRRA Merchants Subdivision , it will head toward north St. Louis, where the train will get back on to the Hannibal Subdivision at North Market Interlocking. The road way in the photograph is the Chouteau Avenue overpass. This second image shows a closer view of the BNSF train as it sits waiting to proceed through the interlocking. Grand Interlocking is one of the busiest railroad junctions in the St. Louis area. Amtrak, BNSF, TRRA, and UP trains all pass through this junction. Amtrak trains that pass through the interlocking ...

Union Pacific 6578 and Union Pacific 7253 lead a coal train east on Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision . The train is crossing a bridge, over the Meramec River, just beyond the two block signals. Photo Taken: April 22, 2008. Crescent, Missouri.

CITX 3092 leads a UP manifest train east along Manchester Ave. Heading east on Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision , CITX 3092 leads a freight train along Manchester Avenue. The train had been waiting at Knox Avenue , just beyond the overpass in the distance, for clearance to proceed east toward Grand Interlocking . The train is approaching the Sublette Avenue crossing. Photograph taken on February 26, 2006. St. Louis, Missouri.

AMTK 192 at Knox Ave. in St. Louis, MO AMTK 192 leads Amtrak's  Ann Rutledge west on Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision at Knox Avenue. Usually, the Ann Rutledge runs with single level Amfleet passenger cars, but when ridership levels are high Amtrak Superliner cars are often substituted for the single level cars. The train's next stop will be Kirkwood, MO . Eventually, the train will reach its final destination of Kansas City, MO. February 26, 2006. St. Louis, Missouri.

Union Pacific (UP) 6826 works as the distributed power unit (DPU) on this loaded coal train that is rolling east on the UP's Jefferson City Subdivision. The train is passing through the Knox Avenue Crossing, and passing under the Hampton Avenue Overpass. February 26, 2006. St. Louis, Missouri.

AMTK 186 - Maplewood, MO With three  Superliner cars  in tow, AMTK 186 and another Amtrak locomotive lead Amtrak's Ann Rutledge west on Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision. In the distance, a DPU on an eastbound coal train is splitting the signals that guard the crossovers at  Control Point D007 , which are just to the east of Canterbury Avenue. These days, Amtrak trains that run between St. Louis, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri, are called the Missouri River Runner trains. The Ann Rutledge originally ran between Chicago, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri. Amtrak trains running between Chicago and St. Louis are now known as Lincoln Service trains. Photo taken: February 27, 2006. Maplewood, Missouri.

Union Pacific 6502 is the lone unit on this westbound empty coal train, rolling along side the Missouri River at Jefferson City, MO. In the background the dome of the Missouri capital building can be seen. June 1, 2011. Jefferson City, Missouri. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

UP 7142 - Sherman, MO Leading an empty coal train west over the Meramec River on Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision is UP 7142. The train was heading to the Power River Coal Basin for another load of coal. While, I was on the wrong side of the bridge to get the best light, I'm still fairly happy with this shot. This was taken with an older Canon 20D. Sometimes, given the age of that camera, it amazes me what it could pull off. January 8, 2006. Sherman, Missouri. Photo © Tom Gatermann. All rights reserved.

Sitting without a crew on Union Pacific's (UP) Jefferson City Subdivision , is Canadian National (CN) 8020. CN 8020 is on the point of UP train MKCAS14. This train was coming from Kansas City, MO., and going to the Alton & Southern's Gateway Yard in East St. Louis, IL. The locomotive is an EMD built (an EMD SD70M-2. April 16, 2008. Eureka, Missouri. Photo © Tom Gatermann. All rights reserved.

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...

UP 4990 - Maplewood, MO Union Pacific (UP) 4990 leads a westbound freight on UP's Jefferson City Subdivision . The train is rounding the curve along Greenwood Boulevard, at Sutton Avenue. From here the train will continue across Missouri toward the Kansas City area. Photo taken on: October 8, 2006, at Maplewood, Missouri.

UP 6356 - St. Louis, MO Union Pacific 6356 (an EMD SD60M) sits in a siding along the Union Pacific Jefferson City Subdivision, near Central Industrial Avenue and Chouteau Avenue. The bridge in the background was the old Chouteau Avenue overpass. The buildings in the background are part of Midtown St. Louis. The taller building on the right is one of St. Louis University's dorm buildings, while the building on the left is the Continental Life Building. The Continental Life Building was built in the Art Deco style during the late 1920s and early 1930s. The building has been converted into apartments and retail spaces. Photo taken: December 9, 2004. St. Louis, MO.

May 23, 2006. St. Louis, MO. BNSF 4562 and UP 8119 pass each other near South Kingshighway Blvd. BNSF 4562 is rolling west on BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision, while UP 8119 is working as the DPU on an eastbound coal train on the UP's Jefferson City Subdivision.

June 1, 2011. Union Pacific (UP) 6502 leads an empty coal train west at Jefferson City, MO. The building in the background, sticking just slightly above the tree line, is the Missouri Governor’s Mansion. Also, in the background is Union Pacific 844 .