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Trains of La Plata, Missouri: Railfanning on the BNSF Southern Transcon

Hello everyone! Some of you may have been wondering where I was at the last two weeks since it has been that long since I uploaded my last video. Well, answer any questions or concerns, I took a railfanning-based roadtrip. During the week of June 8th, I ventured west to Missouri to visit and railfan the northern portion of the historic Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe (ATSF or Santa Fe) transcontinental route. This route is the Santa Fe's historic main line connecting Chicago to Los Angeles via Kansas City. Today, the route is often referred to as BNSF Railway's Southern Transcon and the home of the Z-trains (the high-priority intermodal trains BNSF operates). Much like in the days of the Santa Fe, the line continues to see dozens of intermodal trains each day, with intermodal trains accounting for sixty percent of all trains. This portion of the Southern Transcon is known as the Marceline Subdivision, and sees about 65-70 trains in a typical day. The Marceline Subdivision gets its name from the town of Marceline, Missouri (fun fact: the hometown of Walt Disney), and extends from Fort Madison, Iowa, to Kansas City. As mentioned before, the bulk of the traffic on the route is the intermodal traffic with some manifest and autorack traffic. Curiously, unit trains are far and few on this route, with the only unit trains being unit grain trains in these parts. This is perhaps one of a few mainlines in North America which does not feature a large presence of unit trains. Perhaps there is no better spot to railfan in Missouri or to railfan along the northern half of the Southern Transcon than La Plata, Missouri. Many of you probably have heard of this quaint little town thanks to Virtual Railfan and the YouTube livestream. Though watching trains on the livestream can be pretty entertaining, watching them in person at La Plata is much better than seeing it online. The town itself is a railfan's paradise: a viewing platform just 100 yards east of the train station, a friendly station staff, a railroad-themed hotel in the town itself, and excellent lighting at the station for those who wish to railfan at night. On this day of railfanning, I spent time at both the station and the platform to view trains. Both are excellent viewing areas; the platform allows for a great sightline to the west and features an ATCS monitor for the railfan's convenience about the distance and duration before the next train, while the station allows good sightline in either directions. Now with all that said, this day of railfanning on the Marceline Subdivision was a, well, interesting one to say the least. A derailment occurred at Argentine Yard in Kansas City in the early morning hours, thus causing all BNSF traffic to be rather limited. Between 7:30 and 3:30, there were only about 11 trains. Those trains included the usual manifest and intermodal, and the most notable catch of the afternoon was the "land-barge." For those wondering, a "land-barge" is a lengthy intermodal train of 12,000 or more feet, and usually features multiple engines throughout the train. This particular train featured 4 or 5 engines in the front and 6 engines in the middle, a rather remarkable sight. After 4:30 p.m., the derailment was cleared and the action improved. Between 4:30 and 10 p.m., there were 20 trains, including a pair of Union Pacific intermodal trains and the catch of the day: a BNSF SD70MAC featuring the Burlington Northern Executive Paint Scheme on an eastbound manifest. Other notable catches included the daily Amtrak train, the westbound California Zephyr, and a Union Pacific intermodal land-barge. Other than that, the catches weren't all too noteworthy (even with a Kansas City Southern locomotive), but the action was spectacular after such a slow start. I hope to come back to La Plata some day, as I more than enjoyed my day of railfanning despite a slow start. But if the late afternoon and evening proved anything, La Plata is the place to be when the action is good and the time is right. Thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoy the video! -N&W475