There's some rail photography in my general thread, but that's beginning to feel like a misuse of resources. I'll leave it there for now, but the trains seem at least as specialized as the planes, so if no one objects, I'll give them their own spot.
2. What railroad has the horse logo on their locos?
1. Yes, it's one of two in the metro area. (The other being the Alton & Southern Gateway Yard. Gateway is a little larger, but Madison is much easier to watch, since there's a bridge over the north leads to the yard, fairly close to the hump.)
2. The horse logo is Norfolk Southern: product of the merger of Norfolk & Western, Southern, Wabash, Nickel Plate, and a few other roads.
Any of the bridges downtown give you a good view of action in the UP 12th Street yard, at the Amtrak Station, and leading out to the various bridges and riverfront trackage. You won't always see yard action, but when you add in mainline action it's usually reliable. (18th, 14th, Tucker.) You can get a decent view of transfers between Lesperance and 12th from Chouteau under the MacArthur and its always a fun drive along Wharf past the east side of the yard. (Right by the floodwall.) The Arsenal Street bridge over the Lindenwood Yard gives a good view, but it can be kind of quiet. The pictures of the Madison Yard above were taken from the Broadway bridge in Venice Illinois. (The Yard is kind of in Venice to the northwest, Madison to the east, and Brooklyn to the southwest.) It's not everyone's favorite neighborhood, but I've never really had any trouble there, and I've been taking pictures there for years. People will shout at you every now and then if you're a white guy. (And the sidewalk is narrow and the traffic a bit fast.) But for yard action, the view can't be beat. Always something going on. And some very very busy mainline tracks on the east and north. (Mostly UP, NS, and TRRA action, though you're might see literally anyone. Note the warbonnet and the CN locomotives.) You can also see the NS Hall Street yards from spots on Carrie and Hall. There are other good spots to trainwatch, but if you're wanting yard action, it's hard to beat the bridges downtown or Broadway in Venice/Madison.
Any of the bridges downtown give you a good view of action in the UP 12th Street yard, at the Amtrak Station, and leading out to the various bridges and riverfront trackage. You won't always see yard action, but when you add in mainline action it's usually reliable. (18th, 14th, Tucker.)
I'm looking off the 14th st bridge on Google Street View and the BNSF train has a cargo of fins or something. Are those windmills?
Any of the bridges downtown give you a good view of action in the UP 12th Street yard, at the Amtrak Station, and leading out to the various bridges and riverfront trackage. You won't always see yard action, but when you add in mainline action it's usually reliable. (18th, 14th, Tucker.)
I'm looking off the 14th st bridge on Google Street View and the BNSF train has a cargo of fins or something. Are those windmills?
Yeah, long, white, curved things that sit in these sling like things spanning two flat rail cars. They're wind turbine blades.
I got super excited when I saw that those made it into the Google Earth imagery. Now if we can just get some in Missouri!
What, the one on UMC's dairy barn in Columbia or over at Alberici's office in Overland don't count? Yeah . . . all right. They don't use blades that require an idler car.
Are there any wind farms up past St. Jos? That would be the place to put them. In the NW corner of the state. Though any piece of higher ground in the northern quarter of the state should work, really. I would think, But it's not my area, so I could well be wrong. Otherwise, there's no real problem in buying from Nebraska or Kansas. Price we pay for not being quite THAT flat.
^Oh wait! I got a new business idea for Das Bevo! So they have an electric motor on there, right? What's the difference between a motor and a generator? Mmhmm. That's right. Put a couple of those suckers on the beer hall and boo yeah! And then we start the betting pool on how many drinks it takes before assorted USTL sorts go all Don Quixote. (I . . . uh . . . no betting on yourself. Of course.)
(At least, I assume it was UP, even though this isn't their usual route through town. Could have been pool power. Was an empty coal train, as I recall, but don't quote me on even that. Southbound. In spite of appearances.)
^Nice catch! I see them over on the east side often enough, since they have a yard over there, but not this side of the river too much. I wonder if that's pool power? Looks like too much for a transfer job. Anyway . . . neat!
^And how much fuel does it dump onto the pavement to do it? And how many passenger miles per gallon does that equate to? Sure sure. There are more powerful things out there. More powerful trains, even. More powerful steam locomotives from seventy years ago. 1522 was about comparable, though not as fast. (Slightly higher starting tractive effort with the trailing truck booster, but doubtless lower sustained and somewhat less horsepower. That said, UP's Big Boys were famously 6000 hp locomotives. And they weren't quite the top of the heap in that regard. Even in their own day.)
Anyway . . . the Siemens locomotives are a little underwhelming, but they apparently pass the new emissions standards, which ain't nothing. And they are a little faster than what they're replacing. And they probably have better acceleration. (Though nothing like a top fuel dragster, naturally. I think that's comparing apples and sea cucumbers.)
16% more fuel efficient and 90% lower emissions than the previous GE Genesis locomotives.
Top speed of 125 mph. Better and more reliable acceleration. Sure, they're not the sexiest looking trains but they're a huge step towards better rail service between CHI-STL-KC.
^My, those Genesis engines have really grown on me!
I didn't like them at first because I loved the F40PH so much...
Which I didn't like at first either, as I really loved the old F9s so much....
Guess I better just start loving those Chargers now and get it over with
Good deal. Hope to see you at the UStL Urban Windmill Tilting competition . . . whenever that happens.
