Two Months of Photos

[stlgevo51]

I have been busy and haven't had a lot of time as of late to upload, so now that I have some free time I will just share all of my recent stuff at once.

The first is from early December when one of only 4 Conrail painted SD50s made its way to St. Louis. I caught it on St. Louis-Wentzville, MO, train D6a as it approached Wentzville. Later in the day I got a shot of both it and the CR heritage unit together at Luther Yard.

Just When I Thought CR was Dead... by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Conrail Quantity! by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Another rare locomotive visited the area only a couple of days before Christmas. UP MCHPB-21 sported a Pan Am Railways SD40M-2, with fresh blue paint, behind a dirty CSX Gevo. Obviously, I had to chase this guy!

Pan Am at WR by stlgevo51, on Flickr

MEC 619 "Arch Shot" by stlgevo51, on Flickr

MEC at the Dupo Cantilever by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Not Quite Maine by stlgevo51, on Flickr

A few days later, I took a quick evening drive up to the BNSF Hannibal Subdivision. Even though I only netted one train, I was very pleased with the light and the resulting photographs.

Annada: Population 48 by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Racing the Sunset by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Forgotten in Time by stlgevo51, on Flickr

A snow storm the next day left a blanket of the snow on the ground, so a day of shooting trains on the Chester Subdivision resulted. The main goal of the day was two brand new KCS Belle Gevos. I messed of the shot of them, but the rest of the day was full of fun 'fanning.

New Belles by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Snowy Bluffs by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Fults, IL, in Snow by stlgevo51, on Flickr

A barn, a Tree, and a Train by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Southbound Manifest at KK Road by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Word of UP 1995's impending arrival on QNPINP a few days later prompted a trip to the local hangout, Kirkwood. The nighttime arrival forced a friend and I to try out our new flash units. Even though the shots weren't perfect, I am pleased with the results considering it was my first time really using the flashes.

CSXT 9006 on MKCAS by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Real CNW Heritage by stlgevo51, on Flickr

CNW Heritage by stlgevo51, on Flickr

And the good stuff kept coming! The next week I went north to catch two CN SD60s coming southbound on BNSF train MGALMEM. I was amazed at the impeccably clean exteriors on these beauties.

Straight Outta Centralia by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Lots of Railroads by stlgevo51, on Flickr

CN Meets CN by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Clean and Smokey by stlgevo51, on Flickr

The last few shots are from three consecutive weekends of shooting trains in downtown St. Louis. The first shot is of an A&S transfer with two CSX standard cabs leading and a fresh HLCX Geep tagging along. Throughout the next three weekends, I made several trips to visit the Inaugural, a sunken US minesweeper that is in the process of being scrapped. Its proximity to the TRRA MacArthur Bridge made it a great object to shoot with trains passing above. The first photo shows the graffiti on wheelhouse with an Amtrak train passing above. A week later, the wheelhouse was gone, but the Inaugural still survived. I think it has been almost completely dismantled in these last few weeks, and not much of it is left at that spot. One thing to note is that most of the boat was normally underwater, but low water levels exposed the majority of it. The final shot was taken at ground level as one of the few remaining CNW-painted units passed above on the bridge.

A&S Transfer by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Shipwrecked by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Sunset on the Inaugural by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Lightning on the Bridge by stlgevo51, on Flickr

Coming up soon are shots of a chase with the NKP and Interstate units on one train. Stay tuned!

 

[Pat]

Pretty good stuff. I like the old gas station and the flash at Kirkwood. I've spent a few evening under that tree.

 

[-chet]

HOLY CRAP! The USS Inagural!

I thought the ship had been removed from it's sad resting place.

For those interested, here is a short history of this vessel and it's strange life.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/11/02242.htm

It was washed to it's current position by the flood of '93, and left to rot ever since. Hard to believe this can happen in the US.
http://ussinaugural.org/

 

[papio]

Good work!

 

[B_Kosanda]

It's so nice to see someone else from STL post on this forum. Nice work Jake. It's supposed to be nice out there this weekend. Maybe I'll see you trackside.

Bill

 

[Trainfanne54]

Nice shots.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Is the Conrail diesel a repainted heritage unit or just an old CR engine which has never been repainted into NS?

 

[papio]

Is the Conrail diesel a repainted heritage unit or just an old CR engine which has never been repainted into NS?

Pretty sure it's the latter.

 

[brad_in_omaha]

Wow, you have some really really good stuff there! Great photos! The speed shot on the 4994, the creative shot with the gas station, the snow. Lots of good things to look at!

As far as the Conrail, there was an article in Trains Magazine recently saying the Conrail is still around. Let me look for it.

 

[papio]

Brad-I believe you're referring to the Shared Assets Units in the NJ/NY, Philly, and Detroit areas where CSX and NS both access and share operations. However, regarding Bill's question about "Heritage" painted units, my understanding is there's only one "official" CR Heritage painted unit-the GEVO that was part of NS's Heritage fleet. The others that remain in CR paint just haven't yet been assimilated into the NS black and white livery.

 

[stlgevo51]

Thanks for the kind words guys! NS 5406 is still kicking in CR blue. In fact, I just saw a bunch of photos of it leading a train in Altoona over the weekend. One of the other three CR blue units has been repainted in the last three months, so it is only a matter of time before 5406 has the same fate. It will soon become another one of NS' SD40E units. And yes, Conrail is still around; Shared-Assets style. But CR Shared-Assets uses CSX and NS painted locomotives. No CR blue to be found.