Frisco Archive

E8A 2020 (Big Red) at Affton (St. Louis County), Missouri on November 7, 1954 (Jim Ozment).

The passenger train is southbound Number 807, The Sunnyland. This is the St. Louis to Memphis connection to train Number 107 (Memphis to Birmingham). The photograph was taken on the St. Louis Subdivision at or about mile post 12.5 (MP 12.5). This places the train between the Frisco stations of Gravois (MP 11.0) and Alpha (MP 13.2).

Just to the south of the indicated mile post, behind the photographer, is Bridge 12.5. This 545 foot deck plate girder (DPG) bridge is an overpass above (southbound) the Missouri Pacific Railroad, Gravois Creek and Alpha Cement Road (now renamed Green Park Industrial Drive).

The Missouri Pacific line was their Carondelet Subdivision of the St. Louis Terminal Division. This route extended 10.8 miles from Krik Junction (0.2 miles east of their Kirkwood, Missouri) to Broadway Junction (near the intersection of Primm Street and Alabama Avenue in south St. Louis). Today the Frisco overpass is just east of mile marker 3 on the 8.25 mile rails to trails Grant’s Trail.

The photograph is from the Western Rail Images collection of railroad photographs by Jim and Doug Ozment. This view is from their group of photos titled “Frisco – St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad 1950s”. It is listed as their image number SLSF 55.

Their images SLSF 56 and SLSF 57 show the same 5 car train on bridge 12.5. This sequence of photographs is mislabeled in their album as Train 105, the Sunnyland. Train 105, the Kansas City-Florida Special, did not run on this route.

View is looking north/northwest.

Special thanks to Mark Davidson.