June 2011 Around Kansas City

Rear end of a coal train passes the recently restored Sedalia MP Depot.

UP 844 and UP 1982 on display in St. Louis at Ewing and Papin after coming in the day before on UP Train SJCSL 02. She will leave town in the morning for Cape Girardeau, MO as UP Train SSLCG 04.

UP 844 and UP 1982 on display in St. Louis at Ewing and Papin after coming in the day before on UP Train SJCSL 02. She will leave town in the morning for Cape Girardeau, MO as UP Train SSLCG 04.

The crude oil train with CP Power, UP Train OSJCH 03 passes UP Train QMXAS 04 sitting in Ives Siding led by a really light gray trucked SD90.

Power from UP Train MLIAS 04 are cut off and headed north so they can get a signal back into the yard for their pickup.

UP 844 and UP 1982 blasts out of Cape Girardeau down the BNSF River Sub. with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06, running as BNSF Train F SCGBK 1 06. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure. The last steam engine through here was Frisco 1522 in 1994.

UP 844 and UP 1982 runs along some backwater from the Mississippi River Diversion Channel on the BNSF River Sub. with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06, running as BNSF Train F SCGBK 1 06. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure. The last steam engine through here was Frisco 1522 in 1994.

An interesting consist including a genset bring UP Train AARAS 04 north at Rockview Jct., causing UP 844 to wait a few extra minutes before getting back onto home rails.

UP 844 and UP 1982 nears Rockview Jct. on the BNSF River Sub. with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06, running as BNSF Train F SCGBK 1 06. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure. The last steam engine through here was Frisco 1522 in 1994.

UP 844 and UP 1982 hammers down the Ex-Cotton Belt with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure. Cotton Belt's own 4-8-4s used to ply these rails, and there's one sitting in a shop a couple hundred miles away that could do just that with a little work. A guy can dream, right?

UP 844 and UP 1982 rocket down the Ex-Cotton Belt with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure.

UP 844 and UP 1982 pause in Dexter with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure. In the foreground is UP Director, Corporate Relations and Media Mark Davis, shooting video for the www.upsteam.com .

Pulling up to the UP North Dexter Crew Change Point is UP Train ZLDYC 05 with a fairly uncommon pair of UP Dash-9s with a SD70M.

UP 844 and UP 1982 leave Dexter and near MO Jct. with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure.

UP 844 and UP 1982 pull into Poplar Bluff with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure. Above the train beside the track is the Missouri Pacific Depot under restoration. At the extreme left of the frame is the restored Frisco Depot which houses the Mo-Ark Regional Railroad Museum.

My friend Craig Meador got to ride from Dexter to Poplar Bluff on 844 today. One happy bail bondsman. Craig puts his shots up at: http://cmeador.rrpicturearchives.net .

UP 844 and UP 1982 stop in front of a huge crowd for a 2 hour whistle stop with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure.

Yellow domes never stopped here back in the day, but blue and gray ones lettered for "The Eagle" sure did.

Water drops spill out of the Injector overflow on UP 844 as it was finished being primed and opened fully.

UP 844, still displaying the blue flag and crew tags waits for departure from Poplar Bluff as a northbound manifest slips by on Main Track 2.

UP 844 and UP 1982 are leaving Poplar Bluff after its first visit since 1996 with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure. The first time I rode a locomotive was here in 1994, the first steam engine I rode on was in almost the same spot on this engine in 1996. That day was also the last time a steam locomotive rolled through PB. <p>A lot of people voted for this thing to visit Poplar Bluff, and I'm proud to call it my hometown, at least today. A downtown district that's getting back on track, both depots survive, one restored, the other on its way, and today we boasted arguably the most famous locomotive in the country. Life is good.

UP Steam Brakeman Kevin Coker and UP Steam Conductor Jim Coker wave goodbye to the crowd at Poplar Bluff as they departed with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure.

UP 844 and UP 1982 comes to a stop in Corning on the main with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06 while waiting for an UP empty coal train to take the siding. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure.

Mo-Pac never had 80 inch drivers under their 4-8-4s but they sure had them with 73 and 75 inch drivers.

UP 844 and UP 1982 take off from Corning with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06 following a meet with a UP empty coal train. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure.

UP 844 and UP 1982 are 236 miles from St. Louis on the UP Hoxie Sub. screaming south with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCGBK 06. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure.

UP 844 and UP 1982 heads out of town after a whistle stop with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCVKC 10. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure.

UP 844 and UP 1982 pass under Metcalf Ave. with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCVKC 10. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure.

A loaded unit ethanol train out of Iowa heads south towards Sheffield and eventually the Coffeyville Sub.

UP 844 and UP 1982 comes north through Sheffield Interlocking, and under the NS RoadRailer with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCVKC 10. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure. I wonder how many other people have a shot of a UP steamer and RoadRailer equipment in the same shot.

UP 844 is now backing over the Sheep Jump Flyover with The Little Rock Express UP Train SCVKC 10. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure. The train comes up the CK Main portion of the UP KC Metro Sub. to CP Manchester, backs over the Sheep Jump to Rock Creek, and then pulls west onto the KCT Cross Town Main. This move is done to avoid the connector track at Sheffield, where the curvature of the track is too sharp to accommodate the long wheelbase of the 844.

UP 844 and UP 1982 is now on the KCT and in the homestretch of today's segment of The Little Rock Express UP Train SCVKC 10. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure.

5 rigid axles, often the downfall of this engine when it comes to turning it.

UP 844 and UP 1982 head out of town shortly after 0600 up the KCT High Line Extension for the first time with The Little Rock Express UP Train SKCOM 11. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure. This also wound up being the last time I'd see the train in the sun today.

UP 844 and UP 1982 are on the way out of town after 844's first ever visit with The Little Rock Express UP Train SKCOM 11. This was during the UP Great Excursion Adventure.

BNSF manifest rolls east through KCUS with AAR Track Inspection Equipment in tow.

UP transfer about to head from UP Fairfax Yard to UP Neff Yard.

Part of Iowa Northern Railway's newest group of locomotives.

Stored UPY switchers at Big Blue near UP Neff Yard.

A UP Train swings around the connector at Santa Fe Jct., pausing for a NS Auto Train to head west.

Diverging clear at CP 25th Street on the KCT.

The Manny's 0759 job is taking their lunch break while switching the Budweiser Brewery Yard. In a few days, this railroad will be no more.

One of the last Gateway Western units on the KCS Roster brings a few cars into their East St. Louis Yard over 19th Street.

Terry Respondek's Ex-UP, Nee-CNW SD40-2 is now in full company lettering, updated from the last time I saw this engine, when it was wearing its Illinois Terminal lettering, and numbered 2301.

Respondek's rainbow of colorful secondhand power at Melvin Price.

This unit belonged to the FEC when new, the the ALM, and finally the CIRR before it got to Repondek. A friend's dad used to manage the ALM, so that little discovery was pretty cool.

Coming down the Pennsy Turnout approach of the MacArthur Bridge on TRRA Trackage into St. Louis is UP Train MINNP 25 shortly after coming off the CSX as a complex of severe thunderstorms fire up west of the St. Louis Metro Area.

UP engines in MAC for various work, or in the case of the GE, storage.

SD90MAC-H2 in MAC on blocks still being parted out little by little.

Fine looking Ex-BN SD40-2, now leased to the ICE/DME/CP.