High Iron Travel's "Southern Explorer"
Rare Mileage Excursion
May 25-30, 2010

Part 2, Memphis, Tenn.

Mike Condren, owner of this Web site, was at River Jct. where we joined the Springfield, Mo.-Memphis route, to photograph our train. He is in the process this summer of moving from Memphis to Oklahoma.

Crossing the Mississippi again, into Memphis; UP (MoPac) bridge on left. (ED. Note This bridge, Harahan Bridge, once carried the first highway crossing in Memphis. It was the bridge for not only the MoPac but the RI and SSW

I-55 bridge on right

Overtaking a UP (NS power) train approaching Kentucky St.

We wyed south onto the CN-IC and backed into the Amtrak station, a much-modernized old IC facility.

On the platform, Cimarron River owner Tony Marciando of St. Louis (left) chats with Mike Condren; they were at the Missouri School of Mines in Rolla, Mo., at the same time, and both are dedicated Frisco historians.

Mike took several of us, including Tony, on a railfans' tour of Memphis, and then we adjourned to a local restaurant for a BBQ dinner. This is our train from the west, in the depot, where a sink hole kept the line closed for weeks last winter.

At CN-IC's reconfigured yard, we caught a going-away glimpse of a run- thru freight with units painted for SP, NS, and Conrail. I assume it's a freight from CN to UP?

BNSF constructed a big new intermodal yard at its Tennessee Yard in Memphis, and there are a couple of really convenient parking places for fans to observe the activity.

Hump engines; how low the SD40-2 has fallen!

Mike's son Matt (who with his Mother Jan joined us) took this photo of the railfans at the BBQ dinner. From left: Condren, Kenny Young of Memphis, John Arbuckle of Kansas, Tony Marciando, Mike Rose of Ohio; Dave Ingles, and Frank Greene of Memphis.

This page was designed and is maintained by Mike Condren. If you have materials
that you would like to contribute, contact me at mcondren@cbu.edu