Western Railroad Discussion > Opportunity Lost & Relocated In Macon County MO.

First the bad news, the westernmost bridge on the BNSF transcon is in process of being demolished this week and it will not be replaced. In addition the 2nd bridge west of Ethel has been torn down but a new higher bridge has been put in, which allows some great images of west bounds in the afternoon. Scuttlebutt in the area is that BNSF wanted the 2 bridges removed, but they would pay to have a new concrete bridge put in. So that is what happened. Following are some bridge level and rail level shots from the area. All photos were taken from 9-14 to 9-16.

1. Shot from Bridge 4 (the one being removed) of BNSF 7348 W
2. BNSF 6093 W passing under the condemned bridge.
3. BNSF 7250 E from same bridge

Sneebly



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/13 17:02 by Sneebly.

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Interesting. I shot trains from that bridge when I did a video on the Transcon in the area in May of 2012.

Dick Eisfeller
Big "E" Productions
www.trainvideos.com

4. Amtrak # $ The Southwest Chief at the relocated bridge (just west of the old one)
5. UP 8492 W with autorack train just off the new bridge. Long time till trees get in the way here
6. On Saturday the 15 we caught a BNSF westbound just west of Bucklin going underneath a classic signal bridge which does not yet have new signals in. WE were waiting to shoot the station to station special, which I previously posted on the psgr board

Sneebly

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7. BNSF 7455 E just East of the Mussel Fork creek
8&9 Coming and going of the most eclectic lashup of the trip CN 2132 E *ex CNW) at Hart.This train had the only Blue and yellow we saw.

Sneebly..more coming

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10. BNSF 4442 E on a grain train shot From Kevin EuDaly's hill (my tour guide) at Hart
11. NS 9225 E from Hwy Z at Hart
12. While the NS EB was going past here comes the BNSF 9151 West, nice to see an EMD on a BNSF train

just 3 more

Sneebly

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13. BNSF 7149 West from Hwy Z crossing. I wonder if this signal bridge will survive with darth vader signals. This was the only train seen with 5 units and was 1 of the four all pig trains we saw.
14. BNSF 7278 W just east of Bucklin Mo ona drippy Sunday Sept. 16
15. Last we have the SW Chief a couple miles east of Ethel MO accelrating to 90mph

If you want to see more from this trip please look on my flickr pages http://www.flickr.com/photos/sneebly

Sneebly

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That's one hell of a consist in shots 8&9.

- Jeff Carlson

GOOD stuff...!!! Thanks for sharing.

Sneebly Wrote:
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> First the bad news, the westernmost bridge on the
> BNSF transcon is in process of being demolished
> this week and it will not be replaced. In
> addition the 2nd bridge west of Ethel has been
> torn down but a new higher bridge has been put in,
> which allows some great images of west bounds in
> the afternoon. Scuttlebutt in the area is that
> BNSF wanted the 2 bridges removed, but they would
> pay to have a new concrete bridge put in. So that
> is what happened. Following are some bridge level
> and rail level shots from the area. All photos
> were taken from 9-14 to 9-16.
>
> 1. Shot from Bridge 4 (the one being removed) of
> BNSF 7348 W
> 2. BNSF 6093 W passing under the condemned
> bridge.
> 3. BNSF 7250 E from same bridge
>
> Sneebly
First of all, thanks for posting this. I had been down
that way Memorial Day weekend, a bad trip, and knew
about the rebuild, but hadn't heard about the demise
of bridge #4, the Anchor Road Bridge. Since there's
nothing on the north side of that road before Highway Z,
and the only thing south is next to another road, it's
demise will not affect anything except rail photography.
I further have to admit I was not fond of that bridge.
As you can see, the angles are tight, and you really can't
park close to it. I got skunked a couple of times by
eastbounds when I was at my vehicle and they snuck up on
me. Westbounds are better because you could hear them
blow for the Highway Z crossing at Hart. So, I'm not
totally unhappy #4 will be consigned to history.

About that signal bridge east of Hart on EuDaly's Curve.
(My name.) It's had those tri-lights for several years
now. IIRC, they showed up right after the merger. While
the bridge is probably doomed for OSHA requirments, I'm
guessing the PRC work will forestall that for a couple
of years.

Thanks again for posting.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA