Steam & Excursion > Frisco Friday: 1522 On The Way On TRRA

Frisco 1522 heads up TRRA's UD Bridge ramp to Gratiot Tower in downtown St. Louis in beautiful morning light on one of its early post-restoration trips in 1988. The tower is just ahead, out of the frame to the left. The UD Bridge (for "Union Depot") was an inclined double-track trestle which brought trains up from the vast trackage complex in the east-west Mill Creek Valley south of downtown to Gratiot St. Tower (pronounced "Grah-shut" in St. Louis). It was located on a low hill at the southeast corner of the valley. The trestle also served to cross trains over from the valley's north side (and Union Station) to the its south side. The trestle was later replaced by an earthen fill ramp, still used daily still today by Amtrak and many other trains. Climbing the TRRA UD Bridge ramp was a regular route for the 1522 whenever it headed northward or eastward out of St. Louis. The building in the background is Checkerboard Square, the headquarters of Ralston Purina Co., today part of Nestle. Numerous overhead power lines were edited out in Photoshop.

MC
Muskegon, Michigan

---