T.G.'s Photography Blog

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...

Southwest Chief at St. Louis, MO Some time ago, on October 17, 2004, Amtrak's Southwest Chief took a detour route through St. Louis, due to a train derailment on its normal route on BNSF's Marceline Subdivision , through central and northern Missouri. The Chief is seen here sitting at the old St. Louis Amtrak Station in downtown St. Louis. This image was captured from the 18th Street bridge, which is just to the west of the station. The highway bridge in the background is Interstate 64/US 40. Today's Routing Usually, the Southwest Chief uses the Marceline Subdivision between Kanas City, Missouri, and Fort Madison, Iowa, and then from Fort Madison heads across northern Illinois to Chicago on the Chillicoth Subdivisoin. For the detour, the Southwest Chief used either Union Pacific's Sedalia Subdivision or River Subdivision , from Kansas City to Jefferson City, Missouri. Then from Jefferson City, the train traveled on Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivisi...

Stairway at Prague Castle A gated off stone stairway leading to an upper level in Saint Vitus Cathedral. Photo taken on, April 29, 2015, at Prague, Czechia.

BNSF 7826 is on the point of a parked grain train sitting next to State Street, on which a tumbleweed is slowly rolling down. These tracks are owned by the Terminal Railroad Association (TRRA), and are just north of the TRRA's Madison Yard. Behind BNSF 7826 is an ex-Santa Fe Warbonnet painted locomotive. Here is another image of this same train a bit more from the side showing the ex-Santa Fe locomotive. Photo taken on: November 25, 2011, at Madison, Illinois.

BNSF 4926 leads a train east past the Grand Boulevard Metrolink station, at Grand Interlocking . The train is crossing over Union Pacific's Jefferson City Subdivision , and is coming from BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision and onto TRRA's Merchants Subdivision. BNSF uses the Merchants Subdivision between Grand Interlocking (just west of downtown St. Louis) and North Market Interlocking (in North St. Louis, between North Market and Branch Street). At North Market Interlocking BNSF's trains can get back onto the Hannibal Subdivision. Since this photograph was taken, the Grand Boulevard overpass has been replaced, and the Metrolink station has been rebuilt and reconfigured. The bridge in the background is the old Spring Avenue  overpass, which has since been torn down, but not replaced. The Spring Avenue overpass had been closed for many years prior to being demolished. October 30, 2006. St. Louis, Missouri.