T.G.'s Photography Blog

While out running errands the 22nd, of last month, I happened to drive through Solvay, New York. As I crossed the Finger Lakes Railway (FGLK) tracks at Bridge Street, I saw that a switch job was working the Solvay Yard to the east. FGLK 2304 FGLK 2304 works at Solvay Yard, near Bridge Street. Working the yard today as FGLK 2304, a General Electric (GE) B23-7 . It was built as Southern Railway (SOU) 4016, in 1981. The locomotive was originally built with a high nose, but it was later rebuilt with a low nose. The locomotive has a remote-control system. The antenna for the remote system is visible on the front of the locomotive.  FGLK 2304 works on the south lead track at the western end of the yard. The railway yard at Solvay is the railroad's eastern terminus. The FGLK's main line is the old New York Central's (NYC) Auburn Branch. The Auburn Branch was originally NYC's main line before the Water Level Route was built to the north of it. After the Water Level Route was bu...

While searching around on Google Maps, following the Finger Lakes Railroad (reporting mark: FGLK) mainline from Slovay, NY., I came across an old railroad station along the rail line at Martisco, NY.  New York Central Martisco Railroad Station Nestled among the trees, at the end of Martisco Road, is the old Martisco train station. The two-level, brick station was built in 1870, by the New York Central Railroad (NYC) to replace the original wooden built station, and sits a couple of miles north of Marcellus, NY. Martisco Station sits along the Finger Lakes Railway's mainline, which runs from Slovay, NY., to Canandaigua, NY. A trackside view of Martisco Station The station is owned and operated by the Central New York Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society  (CNYCNRHS). The station houses a museum as well as a library, featuring railroad related items and documents.  Looking southwest down the mainline According to the CNYCNRHS this rail line was part of the...

WAMX 2005 - Santa Fe Junction - KC, MO In the late afternoon light of a fall day, WAMX 2005 leads a quartet of light running engines south at Santa Fe Junction. The string of engines has come down from the West Bottoms area of Kansas City, and were making their way to the lower deck of KCT’s Highline Bridge. The Highline Bridge is just out of view at the bottom, left corner of the photograph. Behind WAMX 2005, are MWLX 2017, WAMX 3855, and WAMX 3852. The locomotives are about to cross the Kansas-Missouri state line from Kansas City, Missouri, to Kansas City, Kansas. The state line is about 300 feet to the west (left) of the locomotives. WAMX 2005 - Highline Bridge - KC, KS   Above, the engines are now crossing over the Kansas River on the KCT's Highline Bridge, using KCT Main 4. The engines are nearing Adams Street Interlocking, where they will swing to the southwest and head back home to Mill Street Yard. About the engines The WAMX engines are owned by Wat...

In the spring of 2004, I came across Railroad Switching Service of Missouri's (RSM) newsprint train, which delivered boxcars of newsprint to the St. Louis Post Dispatch in downtown St. Louis. This switching operation utilized the Illinois Terminal's (ITS) former Highline Bridge in North St. Louis, as well as the former ITS subway tunnel under the northern edge of downtown. I was lucky to come across this operation and capture the few images that I did because a few months after I took these images, the delivery of newsprint to the St. Louis Post Dispatch ended in June 2004. I was able to photograph the newsprint delivery operation on a couple of different days, but the following photographs are from only one of those days. RSM 2020 South of Branch Street In the first image, above, RSM 2020 (sometimes referred to as RSSM 2020) shoves a pair of empty boxcars south from Branch Street. The crew would set out the empty boxcars at the southern end of this small rail yard, a...

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.

October 17, 2008. Keokuk, Iowa. Awaiting its next assignment, Pioneer Rail Equipment (PREX) 2047 sits in the yard near the Mississippi River. The bridge in the background is the US 136 highway bridge, which crosses the Mississippi River and connects the states of Iowa and Illinois. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

October 17, 2008. Keokuk, Iowa. Pioneer Rail Equipment (PREX) 2047 sits in the rail yard near the Mississippi River in Keokuk, IA. Photo © Tom Gatermann. #shortline #railroad #railway #railroadphotography #emdGP20u

October 18, 2008. Rock Island, Illinois. Iowa Interstate 502 sits on display near the riverfront in Rock Island, Illinois, during a railroad festival in 2008. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

October 18, 2008. Davenport, Iowa. Iowa, Chicago & Eastern (ICE) 4204 (City of Cordova) leads a special passenger train under the approach to Centennial Bridge, at Centennial Park. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

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.

MRS Second Street Trackage - St. Louis, MO Some old Manufacturers Railway street trackage is rusting away in South Second Street, at the entrance to an old chemical plant in South St. Louis, Missouri. Photo taken: January 28, 2012, at St. Louis, Missouri.

November 25, 2011. Litchfield, Illinois. A detail shot of Illini Terminal 1604. The locomotive is painted in a scheme commemorating the Illinois Terminal System. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

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.

MRS 255 - St. Louis, MO Manufacturers Railway System 255 leads a switch job south down the tracks in the middle of 2nd Street. The locomotive and its train were heading back to the MRS yard after doing some switching at a business near Barton and 3rd Street in south St. Louis. These days, business on the 2nd Street trackage is pretty much all gone. The largest business on the line, a chemical company, closed many years ago leaving only a couple of smaller businesses to support the line. Photo taken: St. Louis, Missouri. December 27, 2004.

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...

MRS 256 - St. Louis, MO Manufactuers Railway System (MRS) 256 shoves a cut of MRS boxcars off the MRS' 2nd Street trackage toward an industrial siding. The industry that was to receive the cut of box cars was a block over on off of 3rd Street. The MRS The MRS was a small switching operation that was owned by the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. When InBev bought Anheuser-Busch, the railroad was sold off. Now Foster Townsend Rail Logistics, Inc. operates the railroad. The railroad still switches the brewery complex and also does a lot of engine rebuilding. However, I believe that all of the 2nd Street trackage has been abandoned. The 2nd Street trackage isn't used much these days due to most of the customer base going away. In this general area there were three customers who received weekly rail service. The largest customer at this location was a chemical plant which was closed and torn down. At one time the 2nd Street trackage ran for just over two miles from the MRS yard...