Recent Digital Photos
by Mike Condren

The Great Circle Tour of the Mid-South continues in Memphis with this view of Central Station, the refurbished IC station used today by Amtrak. To the right you can see the ends of the platform covers for the stub tracks once used by the Frisco and Rock Island, May 20, 2007.

The new signals at Kentucky Street, formerly known as Kansas Ave. are impossible to view from the north side of the tracks. The signals governing the President's Island lead are visible in the first view. As can be seen, the UP has designated this area as yard limits. The ssecond unit, BNSF #757 , is the best looking "war-bonnet" that I have seen in a long time. This location was documented by me for the Kalmbach Publishing's "Hot Spots" book. The first train was shot at 3:41pm on May 20, 2007.

The signals that replaced the stop signs are at what is now known as CN Jct. Note the loaded coal train on the second track from the right. This arrangement is known locally as Broadway. It was once a street by that name. The six tracks, left to right, are CSX, NS-westbound, UP, NS-eastbound, and two BNSF tracks. These signals protect the CN passenger main used by Amtrak. The tracks leading off to the right connect with the CN and their Johnston Yard in south Memphis.

This westbound general merchandise train was moving smartly, note the second unit from the KCS.

In the first image, we can see an Approach signal for an eastbound loaded coal train. It will meet the empty BNSF coal train on the eastbound NS track, waiting for the loaded coal train to clear the single track across the Mississippi River Bridge. The loaded train finally cleared the track and the empty began moving when the DPU of the loaded train got even with the empty train..

The next BNSF train had a BNSF unit leading a NS unit and a BNSF B-unit.

This train was almost all J.B.Hunt containers with some ocean containers on the rear. Before the J.B.Hunt train clears completely, a transfer run from the IC Johnston Yard enters the right most track bound for BNSF's Tennessee Yard..

In this sequence we see three trains running at the same time. Left to right, we see the westbound UP train with NS power coming off the NS westbound main. The next train is another NS powereed train, this time westbound on the NS eastbound main. On the right is the same IC transfer that was seen in the previous sequence.

The light at this new location is not good for eastbounds in the afternoon and only got worse.

The images in Memphis were all taken between 3:41pm and 5:36pm on May 20, 2007, 9 trains in a little less than 2 hours, 7 BNSF, 1 IC transfer, and 1 NS powered UP train. A 10th train, a NS powered train, was seen moving in the distance, but that train never passed my viewing point. A UP train was parked on the Harahan Bridge behind me and never moved during the 2 hour time period, although a crew van was seen just before I had to leave. There was always at least one train in site. This "Hot Spot" only gets hotter with more coal and intermodal traffic on the BNSF. Most of the UP intermodal and vehicle traffic now is handled in yards on the west side of the Mississippi River at relatively new facilities.