Anyone care to share tips about the best locations to capture rail traffic, yards, structures, historic rail sites, etc. in Memphis? Thanks.
Norfolk Southern–Can view most of yard from Southern Ave[ North Side of Yard], sidewalk across street from West end of yard, and [former passenger stop] Buntyn Station on east end of yard…be cautious not an area you want to hang around in about dark.
CSX- hard to photograph yard activities, again a rough part of town, some locations out east on the line through Raleigh, about the area where it crosses Stage Rd.
BNSF- [old,Frisco- Yale Yard, and Tennessee Yard… Yale Yard can be photographed from the Airways overpass, lots of auto traffic, but good for a very short time… again an area to be cautious in. The Tennessee Yard, hard to get to to photograph yard, best location for me was at the Holmes Rd crossing, the area is heavily used as a and area from where the hump engines used to start pushing west over the yard hump… also the underpass for Shelby Drive which is under the yards Hump Area, not a lot of places to park… would probably get hasseled by the RR Cops, there.
Another area for good photography is the area of the east end of the Mississippi River bridges…Again, this is an area that is at best not one to be hanging around at dusk or dark. Pictures from across Lamar Ave. And from the north side the area around the Unitarian Church, and WREC- TV station area…THis is where Union Pacific and BNSF come into Memphis.
The large Union Pacific yard west of Marion, Ark. is another place, although I have never railfanned over there [ built after I left], and BNSF’s Harvard Yard at Marion, is fairly open, but might get hassled by the cops for loitering around there. There are surface street areas adjacent to the yard area.
The area around Johnson Yard [CN, ex-IC], is definitely one you do not want to loiter around! There are some locations where ph
I appreciate that, Sam. I’m a life-long Jayhawk, but missed Parsons in its heyday. Is there much left there to photograph?
Dave: I moved out here in 2001, am a native Memphian, so I guess I am now a transplant! The Operations here in Parsons are now , of course, all Union Pacific. Primarily a crew cghange point, and location from which track maintenance activities go both north and south. Mudchicken, could probably illuminate those activities, we sure see many different kinds of track maint equipment roll through here… The north leads of the yard are illuminated and used to inspect inbound trains. We see several coal trains a day here, in fact there are usually a couple waiting in the yard for crews, and several a week are BNSF trackage right trains. About all traffic here is southbound, the next crew change is at Mc Allister,Okla. All the north bound traffic diverts to the former Misouri Pacific through Coffeyville, although there about one train a day that runs against traffic and feeds coal to the Generating Station at Oolagah, Okla. south of Coffeyville. The other exception seems to the the UP’s Steam Operations, both the 3985 and 844 seem to always run north and south on the ex- ‘MoP’. Only once did 3985 run through Parsons.
Sam,
So, are you a RR professional? I was sort of a U.P. brat. Dad worked for them back in the '30’s (way before my time) and I grew up on the K.C-Denver main west of Topeka. I usually head home to catch 844 and 3985 when they run through Aiken’s or St. Marys.
No, Dave, I have never worked on RR. I was in Trucking, until I retired for health reasons, Driving, Administration and Safety were areas in which I worked.
Well, I appreciate your taking the time to provide such detailed info and I hope Parsons treats you right. If I get any decent shots in Memphis, I’ll post one or two for you.
Dave