UP U30C 2846 SD45 928, U30B 852 and SD45 908 at Olathe, Kansas in April 1979 (Trackside Slides).
UP U30C 2897, SD45s 922 and 900 and U30B 858 Kansas City, KS in May 1980.
Location is Kansas City, Kansas.
Train is eastbound on the Union Pacific (UP) Railroad just west of Kaw Junction, mile post 5.2 (MP 5.2). This is on their First Subdivision of the Kansas Division. It is just before entering the west end of UP’s 18th Street Yard. This yard adjoins UP’s Armstrong Yard to the east. Both yards are located just south of and parallel to Interstate 70 (I-70), between Interstate 635 (I-635) on the west and the UP’s crossing of the Kansas River on the east.
The train will soon be transferred over Kansas City Terminal (KCT) Railway trackage to the Frisco’s Rosedale Yard. Frisco will expedite the train southeast over its system through Fort Scott, KS, Springfield, MO and Memphis, TN to Birmingham, Alabama. At that point it will be transferred to the Seaboard Coast Line for points further east and southeast.
The train on the left is on the west end of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific’s Armourdale Yard. Armourdale Yard is south of and parallel to the UP yards. Further to the west is West Yard Junction, MP 5.2, near the 4900 block (49th Street) of Kaw Drive, where the Rock Island joins the UP’s double track main lines. The RI operated on trackage rights from this junction to the west over the UP to Topeka, Kansas, MP 68.0. At the later point they got back on RI track for points west and south.
The photographer is positioned just south of the I-70 (MP 418A) and I-635 (MP 4A) interchange, over the Kaw Drive underpass.
View is looking west.
Special thanks to Mark Davidson.
SD45 925 at Nichols Junction, Springfield, Missouri in March 1980 (Ken McElreath).
SD45s 6693 (Frisco 945) and 6695 (Frisco 947) (date and location unknown) (Al Chione).
SD45 948 at St. Louis, Missouri in June 1975 (Calvin Banse-Steve Timko).
SD45s 925 and 919, and GP35 702 at Springfield, Missouri in March 1980 (Ken McElreath).
U25B 822 and SD45 925 at Lindenwood Yard, St. Louis, Missouri in June 1977.
SD45 934 at Tulsa, Oklahoma on July 14, 1980 (Gene Gant).
SD45 923 and 919 Memphis, TN in September 1973.
Location is Memphis, Tennessee.
The train is southbound on the Memphis Subdivision. The locomotives have just crossed over the Mississippi River on the single track Frisco Bridge. Just off the bridge, they have passed the start of Frisco’s two main tracks through the city at Shelco (Shelby County), mile post 483.1 (MP 483.1), but are North (geographic West) of Union Railway Crossing, MP 483.6. This later point was known as Kentucky Street on the railroads to the immediate North (CRIP, MoP, SSW). In the lower portion of the photo, North of the Frisco’s tracks, are three tracks of these railroads.
At this point the train is entering the West end of “Broadway”. “Broadway” is a 2.8 mile East/West corridor of multiple tracks for various railroads extending from the two railroad river crossing bridges (Frisco and Harahan) east to KC Junction. KC Junction lies between Interstate Highway 69 (I-69) to the West and South Waldran Boulevard to the East. At KC Junction the Eastern railroads (Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis (NC&SL) – Louisville and Nashville (L&N), Southern (Sou), and Union Railway (URY (MOP)) diverge to their individual routes and yards to the Northeast, East and the Frisco to the Southeast.
The highway bridge in the distance is the four-leaf clover style junction with spokes of Interstate Highway 55 (West and South) at milepost exit 12, E.H. Crump Boulevard (East) and Riverside Drive (North). The bridge guardrail on the right of the image is over Riverside Drive. The westward bound left hand highway sign notes Interstate Highway 55, U.S. Highway 61 North, St Louis, U.S. Highways 64, 70 and 79. The right hand exit sign notes Interstate Highway 55 South, Jackson, Mississippi.
Out of view to the West (photo right edge) of this location are three parallel, through truss, major bridges crossing the Mississippi River. On the North (upstream) side is the Harahan Bridge (CRIP, MoP, SSW). It has double tracks, is 4,972 feet long and was opened on July 14, 1916. On the South side is the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge (“old highway” bridge). This is the most southern of the three bridges, is four vehicle lanes wide, 5,222 feet long and was opened on December 17, 1949.
Sandwiched in the middle between these is the Frisco Bridge. It has one track, is 4,887 feet long and opened May 12, 1892. When completed by the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis (KCFS&M) Railway it was the first bridge crossing of the Mississippi River at Memphis. The three main cantilevered through trusses include a 791′ and two 600′ spans.
The view is looking Southwest.
Special thanks to Mark Davidson.
SD45 910 and U25B 809 at Kansas City, Missouri on June 21, 1976 (James Primm).
