Western Railroad Discussion > Toto Tuesday: Life After 844

My day got started very early and I certainly put a few miles on my trusty Sentra, chasing UP's famous northern. Up at 0530, load up cameras, tripod, coffee, a couple of donuts & a pint of 2% and blow out of Manhattan up to Marysville. A few preliminary shots and 'let the chase begin' on basic north/south country roads while the UP main makes a SE bee-line toward Topeka. Then some very hard miles back & forth around Onaga, thinking the 844 was broken down and stopped west of Onaga. This bit of info came from a passing Pottawatomie County deputy, so surely it's accurate!?? Then a stupid backtrack move to Duluth to find out the 844 was moving again. Some more hard miles trying to catch up. By the time I found myself in Lawrence for my last (EB) shots in the afternoon sunlight I should have been ready for the comforts of home. It would have been the smart thing to do...

But, of course I trekked the 20 some-odd miles down US 59 to Ottawa to snoop around the BNSF transcon. It wasn't that much of an effort to bag 8 trains in a couple of hours, 3 of which I hope you enjoy here:

1. BNSF 7436 on an EB stack train is "swoosh"-ing underneath the Pine St. overpass in Melvern, Kansas. The train is on a downgrade here and would have snuck right by me had I not been looking in that direction. It was an absolutely silent approach from the west!

2. BNSF 988 on a WB manifest train shot from the former overpass. This is the bridge structure visible in photo #1. It was closed to vehicle traffic some years
ago, but bicycle & pedestrian traffic is still allowed. (Railfans seem to show up here on a regular basis; hmmm, wonder why...)

3. I've moved west and after bagging 2 more EB trains around Ridgeton I settle on a rural crossing east of Lebo for a shot of BNSF 7877 on a stack train hustling
eastward. I'm shooting from the Low Mile/S. Indian Hills Rd. crossing. That's the I-35 overpass way back there.
all photos taken May 29, 2011.

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/23 03:44 by santafe199.

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Good shots Lance Lebo and Neosho Rapids make wonderful spots for some shooting.