In this week’s Saturday Infrared view, we catch an eastbound, with 4 BNSF units leading, as it heads away from downtown Kansas City, Missouri past the famous Santa Fe Junction on June 29th, 2022.
Tech Info: Fuji XT-1, RAW, Converted to 720nm B&W IR, Nikon 10-24 @ 16mm, f/4, 1/250, ISO 200.
BNSF 9073 leads B207, a loaded phosphate train headed for Cicero, IL (BNSF) from Mulberry, FL, as it heads north on the CSX Henderson Subdivision through Mortons Gap, Kentucky on November 17th, 2022.
Tech Info: iPhone 14 Pro, 6.9 (24mm) Lens, f/1.8, 1/222, ISO 64.
BNSF 9073 leads B207, a loaded phosphate train headed for Cicero, IL (BNSF) from Mulberry, FL, as it heads north on the CSX Henderson Subdivision through Mortons Gap, Kentucky on November 17th, 2022.
Tech Info: iPhone 14 Pro, 6.9 (24mm) Lens, f/1.8, 1/222, ISO 64.
Still in green and black paint, BNSF 2749 heads up a string of power as it sits at BNSF Argentine Yard at Kansas City, Kansas, on June 30th, 2022 while waiting for its next assignment.
According to Wikipedia: The Argentine Yard is a BNSF Railway marshalling yard in Kansas City, Kansas. With 60 tracks and an area of about 2miles, it is the largest marshalling yard in the BNSF network. It lies between the Kansas River to the north and the eponymous Argentine borough of Kansas City, Kansas, to the south, about six miles west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri.
Argentine Yard is one of several major rail yards in the Kansas City metropolitan area operated by the Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, and Kansas City Southern, in addition to BNSF. The Kansas City metropolitan area is the largest railroad hub in the United States in terms of freight volume; more than 300 freight trains reach or leave the metropolitan region every day (2016).
The tracks through the junction have been reduced or changed around over the years, but the area remains one of KC’s Busiest locations.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 110.
BNSF 7298 heads up 5 units with a manifest train as they pass over the diamonds at Santa Fe Junction on June 30th, 2022.
Santa Fe Junction sees on average over 100 trains a day and it hosts the double decked railroad (ATSF Double Deck Railroad) bridge that crosses the Kansas River into Missouri, a triple crossing. The junction is partly in Missouri and Kansas and sees BNSF, UP, KCT, Amtrak, KCS, NS and CP traffic, from what I saw during my visit.
The tracks through the junction have been reduced or changed around over the years, but the area remains one of KCs Busiest locations.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1600, ISO 120.
An eastbound BNSF Intermodal heads toward downtown Kansas City, Missouri on the Kansas Highline at Santa Fe Junction on June 29th, 2022 as the sun begins to cast long shadows and rich golden light from the sunset.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 100.
Union Pacific 8897 brings up rear as DPU on a grain train as it heads across Santa Fe Junction on the Kansas City Terminal Railroad (KCT) High Line, while BNSF 7767 and 3947 lead a westbound train past Tower #3 on June 30th, 2022.
Santa Fe Junction sees on average over 100 trains a day and it hosts the double decked railroad (ATSF Double Deck Railroad) bridge that crosses the Kansas River into Missouri, a triple crossing in addition to Tower 3, which is used by maintenance of way these days. The junction is partly in Missouri and Kansas and sees BNSF, UP, KCT, Amtrak, KCS, NS and CP traffic, from what I saw during my visit.
The Kansas City Terminal Railway Company (KCT) is a Class III railroad located in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. KCT serves as a terminal railroad for its five Class I railroad owners (Union Pacific, BNSF, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific). Amtrak also operates over the KCT providing passenger service to and from Union Station. Currently the second largest rail hub in the United States, KCT owns and dispatches 95 miles of track spanning Missouri and Kansas.
According to the website railfanguides.us Santa Fe Junction Interlocking is easily the busiest location for trains in Kansas City and trains from any of the five railroads which jointly own KCT can be seen here. Tower #3 was closed in 1969 when a central dispatching center replaced it and all the other towers KCT had at the time.
The black bridge is KCTs double deck, double track crossing of the Kansas River. The odd-looking silver towers on the bridge are lift mechanisms to raise the bridge in the event of flooding and are not connected most of the time. The upper deck line was primarily used by passenger trains from UP and Rock Island, moving to and from Kansas through the KC Union Station. Today primarily freight trains use this bridge.
The tracks through the junction have been reduced or changed around over the years, but the area remains one of KCs Busiest locations.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 100.