Nostalgia & History > Bottomed Out

Having explored just about every other photo angle possible that wouldn’t get me cited, arrested, or shot, I slunk down into the lower reaches of Old Union Depot Interlocking that evening to see what the view from the floor was like. I hadn’t been there long when ex-Frisco GP38-2 475, now plying home rails under the guise of BN 2330, came along headed for Murray Yard while a pair of SW1500s worked back and forth beneath the 12th Street Viaduct. Of course it’s the SP logo on the piggyback trailer that really makes the photo complete, 1992.

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I know where this picture was taken because I have been there.But what about people who have not?
Please show location.

Uncle Joe
Florida

sdp35 Wrote:
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> Please show location.
>
> Uncle Joe
> Florida


The little red X marks the spot.
—Mac

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Some of us aren't exactly sure what city this is, KC maybe ????


TCS - but a nice shot btw !

Kansas City here we come. I wished.

Isn't that a SP pig trailer on the overpass?
Lynn

Pittsburgh?
Gonut

google says "mulkey square park" be in kc.

dave, out.

A really fine Kansas City view by MacBeau.

If anyone is still interested in this view all these years later, Mac's view is in Kansas City, Mo. (almost in Kansas), looking south toward the 12th St. Viaduct and I-670 bridge, both of which rather leap off the west side of the high bluff upon which downtown Kansas City, Mo. sits. Both roads cross over a good part of the West Bottoms (the Kaw River floodplain) before gradually descending to ground level there (more or less - I-670 stays somewhat elevated).

There are actually six levels of railroad or vehicular roadway present in this view, which Mac very aptly titled "Bottomed Out". From bottom to top: 1) Railroad tracks and street level on the West Bottoms. 2)Street visible immediately at the left, which I believe is Bluff Rd., a minor side street that comes off of Beardsley Rd just to the north. 3) The lower level of the 12th St. Viaduct. 4) Beardsley Rd., a faintly visible terrace on the side of the bluff between levels 3 and 5. 5) The I-670 Viaduct, with what looks like a SP Golden Pig TOFC trailer proceeding eastward upgrade toward downtown Kansas City, Mo. 6) The upper level of the 12th St. Viaduct. It's almost like the famous south ramp view of the Gotthard Pass got transported to the Land of Oz.

As shown on the map, I also think Mac was shooting this with a very long lens near the site of the old Union Depot (Kansas City's first "union" station) on Union St. in the West Bottoms. The old KCT Union Depot Tower is still there (at least was on my last visit, now about 2 years ago). Any Google Maps view at that location however doesn't quite match up to his image. Try 999 Bluff Rd., Kansas City, MO (and change the orientation to due south) for a slightly better matched view from the other side of the tracks. At this address you can see the low industrial building that's in Mac's view. I've taken images from along Bluff Rd. (which descends from an overpass above track level to track level and then below grade) a number of times, although much closer to the Beardsley intersection. That location is OK with normal care; but I've never felt comfortable going lower down Bluff Rd. to the "999" address location at track level. Kinda spooky looking descending down that ramp below the bluff. In the Google Maps image, there's actually a nice SUV parked along the top of Bluff Rd. near the Beardsley intersection (almost certainly a railfan - or maybe the trainmaster doing speed checks?). That's just where I've parked and taken images. You can shoot over the parapet wall there; further down the ramp there's a chain link fence that gets in the way.

If you have never been to Kansas City, you must put it on your railfan bucket list. There are so many great spots, so many trains, so many interesting views that you will easily burn up a couple of SD cards. There's so much that it's almost exhausting. No kidding. I have visited many times when I lived in Missouri, and never once regretted a moment of it. Seriously.

You just gotta go. Let Mac's wonderful image be your inspiration.

MC
Muskegon, Michigan



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/18 20:15 by ironmtn.

My home terminal was Argentine, but sometimes on arrival from Ark City, or Wellington, they would have us deliver the train to Murray Yard, or to the NS. I hated that, but got familiar with that area, like it or not. I do remember seeing a set of Union Pacific turbines sitting under that bridge for a long time, about where the switcher is in the distance.