KCS trip - 8

Hi, The last full day of our trip was spent exploring and photographing in Kansas City.  In addition, we spent a couple of hours in the morning on September 28 revisiting a couple of spots before my scheduled departure.

Our first stop was the viaduct at 63rd Street.  The bridge is much longer than the photos indicate, as about half of it is obscured by trees.  Still, it is a nice spot and we decided it was best in the morning.  Our first movement was northbound light engines.

Next an empty coal train went north.  The DPU is shown below.

When we were done at 63rd street we explored the Sheffield flyover but could not find a good location.  The railroads in the area are fenced and there is a great deal of fenced private property, so we moved on to KCS's Knoche Yard.  Here again the property is fenced.  We followed the yard on the north side and when we reached a grade crossing on the west side of the yard a KCS switcher was working and a CP power set was moving.

In the west bottoms we found a few of the old factory and warehouse buildings still standing.  Some were still in use and some were being renovated.  Also, there were a number of vacant lots where buildings once stood.  Here a westbound UP manifest comes into the west bottoms.

The manifest was closely followed by a pair of MP15ACs and a GP38.

After lunch we attempted to explore the Santa Fe Junction/BN Crossing Junction area.  However, the road to the point overlooking Santa Fe Junction is now closed as the new flyover (upper most bridge in the photo below) goes through the area.  This did not seem to be a big loss, however, as the flyover probably blocked a view of the tower at Santa Fe Junction and there did not appear to be any traffic running at ground level on the Transcon or off the lower level of the Kaw River Bridge.  The UP coal train is coming off the upper level of the Kaw River Bridge.

The BNSF train is on the flyover.

Dale wanted a photo with the Western Auto building so that was our next objective.  The location is the road bridge just east of Kansas City Union Station.

We then moved to the road bridge just west of the station.

We then returned to the BN Junction area.

These BNSF locomotives are former GP30s that were rebuilt by BN about 20 years ago to SP39 specifications.

Amtrak runs 2 round trips each day between St.Louis and Kansas City.  The trains are turned on the wye at BN Junction for their return trip to St. Louis.

The train below, empty coal hoppers, is coming off the former Frisco route to Memphis, TN.

Our last stop of the day was the Mill Street Yard of the Kansas City Terminal in Kansas City, KS.

On our final morning we determined that we had time to hit only 2 locations before I had to be at the airport at 11:00 AM.  Dale's choice was to return to 63rd Street where we shot this northbound manifest.

I elected to finish up in the west bottoms where an overpass under construction provide a safe elevated shooting platform in both directions.  These coal empties are west bound.

The coal empties stopped here for a red signal in the distance.  While the train held here a BNSF light engine move came east.

Finally, the first coal train continued west followed shortly by another coal train on the normally eastbound track  The track on the far right is connection to track coming from BN Junction.

This train had a DPU, allowing for shots looking west.

I hope you have enjoyed the photos from the trip.  Dale and I had a great time.  Thanks for looking.

KCS trip - 7

Hi, This was the last full day on the KCS.  The plan was to head north shooting what we could find, and then spend a day plus a couple of hours the next morning exploring Kansas City.  We headed for the yard in Pittsburg and spotted a southbound moving so we decided to give chase.

Fortunately, the south bound was held at Asbury, MO for a meet with 2 northbounds.  Since there were 2 retro Belles on the point we decided to follow the train south.

The railroad basically runs along side the road from Asbury to Webb City, MO.  South of Waco it crosses the Spring River.

We had scoped out this shot at Tipton Ford, MO the day before.

We then set up at Goodman, MO for QSHKC,

Before heading to Anderson for one last shot of the southbound.

The southbound had a retro Belle DPU.

We encountered QSHKC later in the day at Hume, MO.  It had dropped its 3rd and 4th units in Pittsburg.

Fortunately it had to stop in Amsterdam, MO for a track crew to clear up.  This allowed us to catch up.

Leaving town ahead of the train allowed us to get a shot between Amsterdam and Merwin, MO.

Our last shot of the day was at Drexel, MO.  It was getting close to Kansas City's congestion and therefore we thought it would be too hard to get another shot. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Kansas City.  This proved worthwhile as much has changed in the 20 years since I last visited and many of the places I was able to go then are now fenced.

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

KCS trip - 6

Hi, We began the day by driving about 30 miles back south to Stilwell, OK.  Even though the day had dawned cloudy we wanted a photo of a train passing the station.  It is worth noting that there is a nice motel just south of town.  If we had stayed there we could have avoided a 60 mile roundtrip.

We weren't in Stilwell long when we heard a northbound approaching on the radio.  However, it seemed to be taking a long time to get to us.  Dale thought he was laying back south of town so as not to block grade crossings while waiting in the siding here for a meet.  This proved to be the case as we found the train sitting just south of the last grade crossing. This was the first of numerous opportunities to photograph this train.

When the southbound got close the northbound empty coal train came into town.

As soon as the southbound passed the north end switch the northbound got moving and a shot of the southbound UP coal train and the north bound's DPU was set up.

The southbound cleared soon enough to shoot the north bound passing the depot.

We now headed north.  As we approached Decatur, AR we heard a southbound approaching.  We set up on the north end of town and got a grain train.

We gave chase and got shots south of town of the head end and

DPU, and at

CP North Gentry.

The southbound grain train met the northbound coal empties here.

As we continued north the weather began to clear.  We got another southbound grain train at Anderson, MO.

Moving on north we explored Tipton Ford until the empty coal train showed up.

We then went to Oskaloosa, MO where we had seen a pond shot that I wanted.  First up was the north bound coal train.  The DPUs are shown here.

About and hour later a loaded coal train came south.

After this train we called it a day and headed to our motel in PIttsburg, KS