urbanSTL

Not sure how difficult this one will really be. Could be really easy. Could be kind of a challenge. But I can offer photographic clues. I'll dedicate this one to "Papercup," who you can see hanging out the cab window of the nearest unit.

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

Jan 05, 2019

Not sure how difficult this one will really be. Could be really easy. Could be kind of a challenge. But I can offer photographic clues. I'll dedicate this one to "Papercup," who you can see hanging out the cab window of the nearest unit.

You were right about St. Francis DeSales Church in my last post.

I'll go out on a limb here and say that those are the train tracks behind the Museum of Transportation. Can't think of any other place where an old yard switcher (I think) looks like that and tracks that come in at an angle like that. Also, those trees and hills look like the Museum of Transportation area. In addition to this, I know that Union Pacific runs on those tracks.

Correct. MOT it is. For what it's worth, the "switcher" is an Alco Army Transportation Corps unit. C-C unit with regagable trucks. It's a little smaller than most contemporary C-C road units built for domestic consumption, but a good bit bigger than most domestic switchers. About on par with a GP7, but with an extra axle to distribute the weight better on light rails. Sort of a slightly miniaturized RSD-4/5. (Same prime mover, but smaller and a little lighter.) But it's really road power more than a switcher. It's just . . . they work so well as switchers.

Anyway, that was part of a little story. I was still volunteering with the steam crew at the time. This was a few months after our last run before the last of us finally drifted away from MOT. UP had a traction motor breakdown on the way up the hill, so they stashed their busted loco at Barretts. (And weren't they glad they hadn't pulled the switch like they'd threatened a dozen times before.) They sent to Jeff City local to pick it up a couple days later, along with a carload of coal for UE that had had a hotbox a day or two before that. (And subsequently had a truck changed out to get it moving again.) Which is when I got there and saw the GE . . . AC4400W? (God I hate GE designations.) "Hey guys, what's up with that shiny new GE whatsmabob sitting out in the yard ticking away?" Man, I thought we had a new donation. But of course, their locomotive got a bit buried under projects getting shuffled around, so unburying was necessary. (I don't think the volunteers intentionally created a switching puzzle for UP, but . . . I wouldn't put it past all of them.) Anyway, they reshuffled the deck a little, picked up their locomotive, and then we cleaned up the mess. And even those of us who had real work to do found a good excuse to watch and, in my case, document this rare thing of beauty.


UP stops in Barretts Missouri


UP With Their Prize


UP works the Barretts Yard


Shuffling the Herd

The one you saw came last:


The Big Three

I call it big three as I managed to bag an ALCO, GE, and EMD unit in one shot. Two is easy. Three is actually something of a challenge.

^All interesting information given above. Thanks for that.

Here is one that also involves a train. I took this in October 2017 when Union Pacific 844 was in town. Where was this photo taken?

Is that the Morganford overpass near Merck Field? Just east of Kingshighway?

Nope. Not there or in Tower Grove South.

framer wrote: Is that the Morganford overpass near Merck Field? Just east of Kingshighway?

Looking west towards Vandeventer. You're standing near the school bus parking lot.

^You’re right Framer. I’m on Central Industrial Court in this image looking West towards the Vandeventer/Tower Grove overpass.

Excellent. Now I get to post my Turtle Dragon. Where is this guy?

Well, I was almost certain it was the laundry on Washington between Euclid and Kingshighway, but that didn't check out. Is it in the Zoo?

Not the Zoo, but he does have some other critters keeping him company.

A tarasque! Your turtle dragon is a tarasque! Not quite the most standard depiction, but the basic features of turtle and dragon are clear enough. (They're also usually depicted with a scorpion tail and lions head, which . . . if you squint just right that might have. And six bear paws. Which . . . well . . . no. But still.)

Which doesn't really answer your question. But seeing a tarasque on a frieze makes me happy anyway!

Cool. Never heard of a tarasque. This guy is on the frieze too:

2814 Locust. Not sure if that is the actual address but that's what street view has. Needed the winged wheel to help me place it. I knew I had walked past it many times.

^Nicely done. It really is a cool area, and changing fast.

Whittemore house on Forsyth?

Nope.
But that's a good guess...being next to Wash U. and all.

I want to say the clubhouse at the Probstein Golf course in Forest Park, or the History Museum, or the Art Museum, but none of their dining facilities match up.

Surprisingly tough one.