Recent Digital Photos
by Mike Condren
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53 Years of Railroad Photography |
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Mike's Main Railroad Web Site
Sept. 12, 2013
| Before parking the car, I shot this picture of our train on the track on the right and a Federal Railroad Administration Department of Safety car coupled to a BNSF unit on the track to the left. |
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| There were 3 cars from the Ringling Brothers circus train sitting across the tracks from the Union Station parking garage. |
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| I shot this Kansas City Public Serice PCC car under a display shed outside Union Station. |
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| This Fox pumper fire truck was on display near the track level entrance to Union Station. |
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| I took these shots inside the lobby of KC Union Station. |
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| This is the entrance to the Amtrak area of Union Station. Note that the line for boarding is out the entrance doors. Some of these passengers were for our train to St Louis, some were for the Southwest Chief which was running 1 hour late. |
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| This shot shows the ceiling with its decorations. | On my way to our train, I shot the Western Auto sign which has decorated the top of this building for decades. |
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| When I got to track level, I shot this BNSF unit and the Federal Railroad Administraion cars on the track just beyound the main lines through the Union Station area. |
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| This little girl is getting her picture taken by her mother before they board the train for her first train ride. |
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| This pedestrian bridge makes for nice viewing of the action at Union Station. Note the heralds of the railroads which once served Union Station. Also note the Ringling Brothers cars in the distance. |
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| The FRA Safety train is seen out the window from my seat in our coach. |
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| I got permission to open the upper Dutch door of our coach to shot these photos. |
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| Jan is seen sitting in our seat in the coach. |
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| The 1 hour late Southwest Chief arrived before we left as there were passengers who needed the connection to our train. We then see the Southwest Chief sitting on the parallel track as we leave KC Union Station. |
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| This former Milwaukee duplex sleeper is parked across the tracks from the east end of Union Station. |
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| This KCS freight is seen north of us on their track which is about to cross the Union Pacific, former Missouri Pacific lines east of Union Station. |
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| Our first stop was Independence, MO. Here we see the sign advertizing Independence as the Home of Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States. |
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| The next stop was Lee's Summit, MO. |
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| This is the first train we met, an empty unit coal train. |
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| This was the second train we met, another empty unit coal train. |
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| The former Missouri Pacific station in Sedalia, MO is decorated with 2 "buzzsaw" heralds of the MP. |
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| I was very surprized to find the shop buildings of the former MP backshop were still standing. |
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| We met yet another unit coal train. |
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| This pair of units was at the west end of the yard in Jefferson City, MO. |
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| Then there was a ballast train in the river front yard in Jeff City. |
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| East of Jeff City we passed a National Guard base with these dump trucks and F15. |
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| The destination of much of that coal in the unit trains is this power plant at Labadie, MO. |
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| We passed the National Museum of Transport St Louis County Park on our way into St Louis. |
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| Here we see the station in Kirkwood, MO, our last stop before St Louis. |
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| This is the Grand Ave station of the Metrolink under the Grand Ave bridge with a light rail train leaving. |
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| When we got close to Union Station, they routed us to the south side of the freight yard. Here we can see Union Station over the top of the freight cars and locomotives. |
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| This NS freight was stopped east of the Amtrak station. |
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| We were routed up the ramp to the former location of the Gratiot Street Tower before being allowed to back down the ramp into the Amtrak station. This gave us nice views of Busch Stadium and the records posted on the side of the stadium. |
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| We back past the Sheraton Hotel in a former wharehouse. |
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| A metrolink train goes by as I headed to the elevator to get to the Amtrak station. |
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| This is the view from the walkway over the tracks at the Amtrak station. The Cimarron River is barely visible over the top of the freight cars above the dome obs in the station. |
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| This is a different view of the dome obs. |
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| The image below was taken from the Amtrak station pick up for taxi customers. |
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| Below is a Google Maps satellite view of the area shown above with the spot where the car was parked on the night we stayed in it and the Cimarron River is labeled. The car next to it is ex-Frisco sleeper, now Caritas. |
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| This is the view out our window in the Cimarron River showing the rental car of the Beirnes. |
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| This is the view from the vestibule of the Cimarron River. |
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| It turned out that the Beirnes had not had lunch when we arrived so we headed to Hoarts for something to eat. Jan and I had eaten on the train from KC so we just had some cheese sticks. Jan also got a carryout sandwich. |
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| This display is at the end of the hallway beside the Double Bedroom section of the Cimarron River. |  |
| Jan is seen here enjoying a book on the couch in Bedroom D of the Cimarron River. |
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| A Metrolink light rail train is seen through the window of the door of the Cimarron River. Their shops are in the former location of the coach yard for Union Station. |
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| This view shows the former Railroad YMCA used by train crews. The former GM&O overhead crane shows to the right side of the photo. |
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| Iwent outside to shoot anything that happened and got this Metrolink. |
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| That was followed by an eastbound BNSF freight. |
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| Next was this unit coal train which will park beside us until morning and leave shortly before our train heads west. |
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| The Beirnes are seen walking back to the Cimarron River after returning their rental car. |
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| TRRA is seen parking the dome obs at the end of the wye north of our location. In the foreground is Tony's truck. |  |
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| This was the last train of the day. |
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| A neat sunset off the rotary gons of the unit coal train. |
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| The lights of the city at dusk. |
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This page was designed and is maintained by Mike Condren.
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