TRRA Replaces GRS SA Searchlights
In 1909 St. Louis started construction on the “St. Louis Municipal Bridge.” The bridge was built to break the monopoly that Terminal Railroad Association had on rail traffic across the river. However, due to lack of money the bridge did not open till 1917. The bridge was only open for automobile traffic and railroad traffic would not open on the lower deck till 1928. In 1939 General Railway Signal Company installed their Type SA Searchlights on the bridge and into the rail yard. Some of these searchlights even had St. Louis Property tags when they were removed. In 1942 the bridge was renamed the Douglas MacArthur Bridge. The top deck of the MacArthur Bridge was closed to automobile traffic in 1981 due to poor pavement conditions. In 1989 St. Louis traded the MacArthur Bridge for the Eads Bridge. The Eads Bridge was one key to the Terminals success. Eads Bridge could no longer handle heavy freight trains like the MacArthur Bridge could. St. Louis was looking for a light rail bridge for the Metro Link and saw it best to swap ownership of the bridges. Since 1989 the Terminal Railroad Association has operated the MacArthur Bridge.
In the late Spring of 2006 the Terminal Railroad installed new Safetran Model CLS-20R signals at the East end of the MacArthur Bridge. They replaced two ground mount GRS SA dwarfs, two L&W Signals, and one creation from GRS. During the summer the TRRA did nothing but install new wires for the signals. The signals on the elevated bridge were also going to be replaced up to the actual bridge. I had been in contact with the TRRA Signal Supervisor who agreed to sell ZCG Utility Scrap the signals. When the signals were removed in September, the TRRA Supervisor had gotten a promotion and did not tell the crews that we were buying the signals. The signals from the elevated rail had been dropped off the bridge and most broke. Some of the signals on the Illinois side had tags from the late 1940’s when St. Louis owned the Bridge. According to the Terminal Railroad Association, they will continue to remove the GRS Searchlights and replace them with the new Safetran CLS-20R signals. | The Replacements These are the signals that are going to replace the Old 1939 GRS SA Searchlights. These were at the East end of the MacArthur Bridge. |
 | Replaced... This is where a GRS Double Stack Searchlight Dwarf once stood its ground. |
 | The Replacements The Safetran CLS-20R are now in service. |
 | The Replacements These signals replaced the oldest signals found. They were dated 1939 from a St. Louis Proprty Tag. They fell to their death. |
 | The Replacements One of the main reasons to replace the signals was for more aspects. |