VAWBAR waits

VAWBAR creeps onto Celilo Railroad Bridge headed by 969, 5215, 5432 and 1094 as it waits for the bridge to close before it heads south of the Oregon Trunk on Aug. 25, 2012.

Westbound garbage empties

Westbound garbage empties wend through the tunnel into Wishram on Aug. 25, 2012.

Framed

BNSF units 5437 and 5107 are framed by a tree in Celilo Park across the Columbia River on Aug. 25, 2012. The units were parked at Wishram, Wash.

Great Northern 2507

Sun kisses Great Northern Railway 2507 on display at Wishram, Ore.

Home Valley

Solitary carload of lumber awaits pickup on the Home Valley, Wash. siding as the BNSF intermodal from Tacoma heads east on August 25, 2012.

Clash of haulers

BNSF grain loads head west at Chamberlain Lake while tug, probably pushing empty barnes for grain loading, travels along the Columbia River eastbound.

Gateway Western

Gateway Western GP38-3 was captured at Knoche Yard in Kansas City, MO, on Sept. 13, 2002. Gateway Western is owned by Kansas City Southern and operates between Kansas City, Springfield, Illinois, and St. Louis, as well as switching areas of Kansas City.

Interlocking tower

Old Union Interlocking tower reflected the waning rays of sunlight on September 12, 2002 at Santa Fe Junction in Kansas City, MO.

Grain pick up

BNSF965, comparatively new at the time, picks up grain cars at Norbourne, Mo, on Sept. 13, 2002.

TRRA

Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis, MO, actually has its main yard in East St. Louis.  TRRA performs interchange and switching duties all over the area.  These two SW1500s, common in September 2002, have now been replaced by SD40-2s, SD45T-2s, and GP38-2s.

German town in Arkansas

Early settlers in Arkansas, as in my other areas, named their new abodes after towns in their former lands.  This B23-7, formerly commonly used as a switch unit on the Missouri Pacific and Union Pacific, was found in Stuttgart, Missouri, in September 2002.

Shadow of its former glory

September 19, 2002, found these wheelsets at the former Cotton Belt shops in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.  Southern Pacific continued to use the shop until its merger with Union Pacific, but after six years, Pine Bluff's work had all been moved to UP's North Little Rock shops.

A little modern UP action

SD9043MAC 8291 stops for a few minutes on the NP tail as the SEMN with 5541 races south to get across the Columbia Draw Saturday afternoon before Amtrak 11 pulls into the Vancouver, WA, depot. The SD9043MACs had delivered a unit train to United Grain.

Former KCT roundhouse

Former Kansas City Terminal Roundhouse sits on a bluff above Santa Fe Junction is Kansas City, Mo., no longer used for railroad purposes.  It is now used for offices.

Boonville depot

Former M-K-T depot at Boonville, Missouri, named for famous American Explorer, Daniel Boone.  Americans were not always consistent in spelling in the early days of this country, so this area got named Boonville even though today we spell the name Boone. No rail service uses this depot; it is the trailhead for the M-K-T trail through Missouri. Photo from September 2002.

Southwest Junction

Union Pacific covered hoppers heads southeast out of Kansas City in September 2002 through what is known as Southwest Jct.

Ray Carroll Grain

Ray Carroll Grain, Hardin, MO. used this SW1000 in September 2002 to switch grain cars at its elevator.

50-ton Whitcomb

Pavlich Railroad Car Unloading was using this Whitcomb 50 ton  switcher at its warehouse in Kansas City, Kansas, in September 2002. For the rest of August I will be posting photos from a 2002 trip to Kansas City, St. Louis, southern Illinois, Arkansas and Kansas.

High Plains Co op

Also from a trip through Nebraska in 2000, this GP9 switched High Plains Co-Op in Kimball.

Goldendale critters

Two Plymouth switchers, a 35-ton MDT K-B and a 35-ton MDT await their fate at the former aluminum smelter being torn down at Cliffs, Wash., south of Goldendale.

Grain empty at Kalama

BNSF5455 and BNSF4879 smoke as they push backwards on an empty grain train in Kalama, Wash. on July 17, 2012.

Multi-owner switcher

This SW1200 is former Northern Pacific, ex Burlington Northern 177, and was one of the relatively few switchers repainted after the BN & ATSF became the BNSF.  For a time it worked under the Western Rail Services banner.  Now it belongs to a company called 564109 B.C., LTD which uses the JLCX markings. It was photographed July 17, 2012, in Kalama.

Maywood

GP9 switches Maywood Cooperative in North Platte, Neb. next to the Union Pacific yard.

Baldwin unit

Baldwin VO1000 lettered 515 was in retirement at Mt. Vernon Terminal, Wash., in October 1993.

B unit

Known as an SD42-B, the BNSF 7508 was photographed at the Sixth St. overpass in Vacnouver, Wash. in 2003.  This overpass has now been removed and is being rebuilt.

Paducah built

This ex SOO SD40-2, rebuilt by National Rail, boasted that it was Paducah Built. Captured near Sixth St. overpass in Vancouver, Wash., in April 2004.

ex DRGW

Union Pacific continued to use some SD40T-2s from the Southern Pacific after the merger, only they became lease units like this GECX 8638 which was seen in April 2005 at Powell St. in Portland, Ore.

NREX

After the merger with Union Pacific, former South Pacific 8638 became National Rail SD40T-2 8638 and traveled through Vancouver, Wash. on a January 2005 garbage train.

Wallula Union

GP7 chopped nose 2083 rests at LaGrande, Ore. in January 2005.  Owner was the Wallula Union Railroad which kept its ATSF heritage in its paint scheme.

United Grain

Over the years, United Grain, across from the Amtrak Depot in Vancouver, has used a number of different engines for switching.  Above, United Grain SW1200 1254 operated from at least the early 1990s through about 2004 when it was damaged.

Below, suceeeding the 1254 was SW1500 RLCX 1293 which operated from about 2004-5 to 2007. 

For a time, United Grain used the Alaskan Railroad GP40-2 # 3005, probably 2007 to 2009, shown at the bottom.

Today, United Grain is using a retired BNSF heritage painted unit.  Photo coming in future days.

POTB at Manning

Repainted Southern Pacific SD9 owned by the Port of Tillamook Bay railroad was parked at Manning after doing log hauling in 2004.