T.G.'s Photography Blog

BNSF 8724 - crossing Hall Street toward Luther Yard On a few days in June 2007, I headed up to North St. Louis to see if there was any railroading action going on around Norfolk Southern's Luther Yard. On one of those days I was driving north on Hall Street when I saw the RR crossing lights start to flash for the transfer track between the BNSF's North St. Louis Yard and Norfolk Southern's Luther Yard. I pulled the car over quickly to the side of the road and was able to grab a couple of photographs as BNSF 8724 crossed Hall Street leading a transfer train to Luther Yard. This is one of the few images I have ever gotten of a train using this transfer track. The track is not a long one, as the two yards are only about three tenths of a mile (approximately half a kilometer) apart. At Luther Yard Next I headed over to Carrie Avenue on the south end of Norfolk Southern's Luther Yard in North St. Louis. Not much was going on at the time but I was able to captu...

Argentine Connection - Flyover at Santa Fe Junction BNSF 7711, BNSF 670 (an ex-Santa Fe Warbonnet), and BNSF 4308 lead a double-stack train east over the Argentine Connection flyover at Santa Fe Junction, in Kansas City. The train will soon be passing by Kansas City Union Station, as it makes its way east toward Rock Creek Junction. At Rock Creek Junction the train will get back onto BNSF rails, and travel east across the Marceline Subdivision to Fort Madison, Iowa. The Argentine Connection's tracks, as well as the tracks between the flyover and Rock Creek Junction, are owned by the Kansas City Terminal Railway (KCT). The photograph was taken from State Line Road, which is on the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. The view of the photograph, from this perspective, is showing the portion of Santa Fe Junction located in Kansas City, Missouri. Highline Bridge The lower bridge is the eastern approach to the upper deck of KCT's Highline Bridge...

Flyover at Santa Fe Junction This BNSF stack train was heading west over the flyover, also known as the Argentine Connection, at Santa Fe Junction , back in September 2005. This photo was taken from the observation deck of the Liberty Memorial. The Santa Fe Junction area is vast and complex, with three levels of distinct rail lines. The highest level is the flyover, which now serves as the primary way that BNSF trains get from the KCT tracks at Kansas City Union Station (outside of the photograph on the right) to Argentine Yard in Kansas City, Kansas . The flyover carries KCT tracks AC1 and AC2 above the lower levels; the stack train is on track AC2. The middle level, is the KCT Highline Bridge that passes under the flyover, and carries rail traffic over the Kansas River. Once this bridge gets to the Kansas River, it becomes a double-deck bridge. You can see the Highline Bridge as it crosses the Kansas River in the upper right corner. A pair of tracks on the ground ...

A Union Pacific double-stack train passes under one of the old Santa Fe style signal bridges along BNSF's Marceline Subdivision . Today, I believe that all of these old signal bridges are now gone, having been replaced with newer tri-color modular block signals that sit atop signal poles alongside the tracks. These signal bridges, I thought, always added a nice touch of framing when photograph trains along this line. May 26, 2005. Wyaconda, Missouri.

BNSF 4370 leads a stack train east through a curve on BNSF's Marceline Subdivision. The Marceline Subdivision runs between Kansas City, Missouri and Fort Madison, Iowa. This train would eventually make its way to an inter-modal facility in the Chicago, Illinois area. Photo taken: May 26, 2005, at Ethel, Missouri.

May 27, 2005. At mile post 385 on BNSF's Marceline Subdivision, BNSF 7729 (the lead unit) and two other locomotives lead a stack train west toward a trio of road bridges. The nearest bridge is the US 24 bridge, the next one is the US 65 bridge, and the third one is the Mason Street overpass. There is even a fourth bridge in the distance that carries the Marceline Subdivision over Wakenda Creek.

May 27, 2005. BNSF 7729 leads a stack train west on the BNSF's Marceline Subdivision. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

August 14, 2008. Hammond, Indiana. With CSXT 5441 on the point, a CSX stack train rolls west at Wabash Avenue on the Barr Subdivision. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

August 20, 2005. Elm Creek, Nebraska. Three Union Pacific trains are seen here rolling across the Kearny Subdivision.Two trains are heading west, while another, a loaded coal train, rolls east. The Kearny Subdivision is a triple track main line from Gibbon, Nebraska to North Platte, Nebraksa. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

October 17, 2008. Fort Madison, Iowa. A Union Pacific trackage rights train is about to pass under the old Santa Fe style signal bridge at Fort Madison. The train is heading westward on BNSF's Chillicoth Subdivision. The signal on the right is indicating that another train has been lined west on the right-hand main. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM) 4546 and Larry's Truck & Electric (LETX) 8858 ( EMD SD40T-2 ) are south bound on the point of Union Pacific train, ZYCHOB 13. This is a high priority train running between Yard Center near Chicago, Illinois, and Houston, Texas. In the background is the J.B. Bridge, which carries Interstate 255 across the Mississippi River, between South St. Louis County, in MO., and Columbia, IL. KCSM 4546 is a GE built locomotive, model GE AC44CW. Photo taken: October 14, 2007. Columbia, Illinois.

November 2, 2005. Dupo, Illinois. As a stack train rolls south under the old cantilever style signal in Dupo Yard, UP 6510 sits waiting for the green so its train can also head south on the Chester Subdivision. The train streaking by is a stack train, however, I can't remember if it was going north or south. Photo © Tom Gatermann.

BNSF 5115 - Luther Yard - St. Louis, MO BNSF 5115 is seen here on the point of a Norfolk Southern stack train that is leaving Norfolk Southern's Luther Yard in North St. Louis. The train is nearing Adelaide Avenue, heading south toward May Street Interlocking where it will get onto the TRRA Merchants Bridge . BNSF 5115 and its train will use the bridge to cross over the Mississippi River into the state of Illinois. Once in Illinois the train will use TRRA tracks to gain access to either the NS' Brooklyn District or the NS' Southern West District. Photo taken: St. Louis, Missouri. December 29, 2004.

UP 1982 - Dupo, IL Union Pacific's Missouri Pacific Heritage unit, UP 1982, sits sandwiched between two strings of double-stack containers in well cars in Dupo Yard. Photograph taken: March 24, 2007, at Dupo, Illinois.

Double stack cars - UP train ILXMND-18 Intermodal containers sit double stacked in well cars, on south bound Union Pacific (UP) train ILXMND-18. The train is between Valmeyer, Illinois, and Chalfin Bridge, Illinois, on Union Pacific's Chester Subdivision. Train ILXMND-18 Train ILXMND-18 was a detour train running on the Chester Subdivision. This train runs between the Port of Los Angeles (LX) to Marion, Arkansas, (MN). Normally train ILXMN runs via the Southwestern portion of the United States, on the Sunset Route across California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and then north to Marion, Arkansas. However, for some reason the train detoured via the St. Louis, Missouri, area, and then south through Illinois and Missouri to Marion, Arkansas. Photograph taken: June 22, 2012, at Chalfin Bridge, Illinois.