8 May 2017

Monday 8 May 2017.

Today's expected temperature was to be a high of 30 degrees - and I guess it was. Wherever we went I had to take into consideration where I parked the vehicle as it baked every time I left it in the sun.

Our Nissan Rogue - proudly flying the flags.

The day started out with a hiss and a roar until we got to the I435 and Hwy 210 interchange - road works had the place in chaos and it was gridlocked. Thankfully I was getting off at the next interchange that lead to a Casino where there's a Baldwin 'Prairie' loco on display. it's history is interesting but I won't go into that here. Amazingly, the brass builders' plates are still attached to it.

Lloyd explaining the workings of a Distributing Valve for a A6ET Brake System - way over my head.

We took another look at the lift bridge only to see another cement train parked up and abandoned. We diverted to Birmingham Junction to find that the CP (Canadian Pacific) line (I referred to this as the NS line in my first blog) was being worked on, which meant no trains.

The other line had red signals abound so we popped up to Independence and did some shopping before heading to Kansas City, Kansas.

A quick stop in at Doc's Caboose found that he was also closed on Monday's so he misses out on my  money and I manage to save a few bucks until we hit the next hobby shop.

We then went to the old bi-level lift span bridge that is used by the KCS (Kansas City Southern), KCT (Kansas City Terminal) and the UP (Union Pacific) to connect their Kansas yards to Missouri across the Missouri River. We sat there for at 90 minutes and didn't see one darned train, meanwhile all the time we could hear and see BNSF trains across the river.

The double decked lift span bridge that connects the railroads from KCMO to KCKS.

The railfans among you will fully understand the theory of Murphy's Law of Railfanning; where the number of trains that turns up at a spot after you've left it is directly proportional to the number of hours you've spent at that spot waiting and not seeing anything. We packed up and went over to Santa Fe Junction and right on cue 1.5 trains went over the bridge - a UP on the top level, and a very short KCT on the bottom level. All you can do is laugh at your misfortune.

Anyway, I finally convinced Sally the SATNAV to find Santa Fe Junction and we sat in the shade of a small tree on 25th Street beside BNSF tracks that also had a view of the two high lines above the junction. Bright sunlight meant that the photos and video of the high lines weren't that flash, but I got one good shot of a BNSF coalie right beside us - of course at the same time this was passing by, both high line bridges were in use as well as another train passing at ground level - the problem was which way to point the camera.

BNSF loaded coalie through Santa Fe Junction. These are tail end charlies.

BNSF manifest on the High Line and UP manifest below - taken from the dark side.

We then followed 25th St to it's end and found a disused bridge that provided good photographic opportunities of the high lines, although the wind was starting to pick up so I abandoned the idea of using the video camera.

One loco and a caboose at Santa Fe Junction.
I intentionally included the city skyline.

BNSF intermodal on the high line at Santa Fe Junction - CSX 53 foot container leading the charge...

Because it matters, I saw two CSX locos today, one of them was on the point of a BNSF train sitting in a yard - something stirred within...

A quick drive to the Independence Amtrak Station to have a look see, Waffle House for dinner and 'home'.

Lloyd checking out the caboose display at the Amtrak Station at Independence.

Independence is the Home of President Truman - the sign says so.

Not much video footage obtained, but quite a few trains seen and glorious weather to boot.

This marks our last day in Kansas City and tomorrow we drive to St Louis for a one night stay.