T.G.'s Photography Blog

The "Green Bridge" is a nickname for a pedestrian bridge in Minoa, New York. The bridge crosses over the eastern edge of CSX's DeWitt Yard and Syracuse Terminal Subdivision between North Main Street and South Main Street. There is no road crossing connecting the two streets, so the bridge allows pedestrians to cross safely over the tracks. It also gives railfans access to safely watch and photograph train movements on the eastern end of DeWitt Yard.  The "Green Bridge" at CP282 Looking at the north access ramp, as an ex-Wisconsin Central boxcar on train Q626-06 begins to roll under the Green Bridge. The Green Bridge earned its nickname because it is painted green. Though these days, the green color is faded, and reddish-brown rust seems to be more prominent. The bridge crosses directly over the top of control point (CP) 282 of CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. The bridge is a popular railfan hangout, even though the bridge can make photography difficult. ...

  At milepost 280.5 of CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS) is control point (CP) 280 and the automatic (auto) 280 block signals. CP 280 is a semi control point and only controls Track 4. Track 1 and Track 2 are governed by auto block signals. The block signals for CP 280 and Auto 280 sit along Saintsville Road, about half a mile west of the North Kirkville Road crossing (MP280.7) in Kirkville, New York. What is a control point?   CPs are locations on a railroad where a railroad dispatcher's instructions are remotely sent to the CP to control train movements. The signaling system's logic implements the dispatcher's instructions in the field and determines what aspects the control point signals show. These instructions set a train's route and give instructions to the crew, such as the permissible speed. An automatic/intermediate block signal is different because they are only governed by track conditions within the automatic signal's block of track and the n...

CN 3115 is one of the Canadian National Railway's (CN) heritage locomotives. Heritage locomotive paint schemes usually honor railroads acquired by present-day railroads . CN 3115 honors BC Railway, whose railroad operations were acquired by CN in 2004. BC Rail began life as Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) in 1912. In 1918 the British Columbia provincial government took over the PGE. In 1972 PGE was renamed British Columbia Railway, and then in 1984, that name was shortened to BC Rail.  Q212-22 arriving at CP282 Nearing CP282, CN 3115 leads Q212-22 slowly east on Track 1. CP283's signals are in the background. I heard CSX's NF dispatcher, who controls the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS) tell Q212-22 that it was going into Track 7 to hold for some traffic coming west. Track 7 runs between CP286 and CP291 of the STS. NF was making room for I017-21 to run west on Track 2 while I009 worked the Departure Yard Lead and tied up Track 1 at CP285. CP285 is on the western end ...

On February 10, 2007, I was railfanning along TRRA's Merchants Subdivision in North St. Louis. While near North Market Street and North 1st Street, I spotted a train to the north coming south off the Merchants Bridge near Bremen Avenue. The green color of the locomotive in the far distance indicated to me that a former Burlington Northern locomotive was leading the train. Southbound at North Market Street The train came south approaching North Market Interlocking featuring a colorful lash up featuring FURX 7227 (ex-BN), BNSF 159 (ex-Santa Fe), and BNSF 7129. The train is a transfer run from TRRA's Madison Yard in Venice, Illinois, to BNSF's Lindenwood Yard in southwestern St. Louis, Missouri. FURX 7227 (ex-BN), BNSF 159 (ex-ATSF), and BNSF 7129 pass Grossman Iron & Steel. First Union Rail (FURX) 7227 is an SD40-2, built by Electro-Motive Division (EMD) for Burlington Northern (BN) in 1980. After working for BN, the locomotive became FURX 7227 before being sold to Norf...

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...