A flawless St. Louis morning yields a trio of Union Pacific SD40 rebuilds swinging downhill around the elevated concrete railroad bridge toward Lesperance St with a long UP YSL53 20 on the drawbars. This job works daily, going on-duty 2359 hrs the night before, between both Lesperance St Yard to the south and 12th St Yard in downtown making transfer runs between the two. The large brick building in the background belonged to the Cruden-Martin Manufacturing Company; Producer of a variety of metal products, they eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1990. The structure now lays abandoned and is just one of many buildings that gives St Louis' riverfront a gritty, industrial look to it.
The EMD SD (special duty) series are a strong and reliable kind of locomotive which still serve America's rails today. They have proved themselves reliable by clocking in several million miles of freight service over several decades.
