FL9

Judy and Molly and I left Hearne ahead of 844 with the intention of catching the train one more time northeast of New Baden at the private crossing belonging to Judy’s aunt and uncle,  Doris and Don McBride.   We turned off of Highway 79 and drove down to the crossing lined by tall old growth trees that leads up to their house overlooking a large field.  Before the trees grew tall and blocked the view, when the house was first built many years ago you could sit on the back porch and watch trains roll by across the field, at first pulled by steam and later by diesel.

Judy dropped me off so I could clear some weeds and set up my digital minidisc recorder for the final encounter of the day with 844.  She went on up to the house and prepared to bring her uncle and aunt down to see the train when it got closer.  I thought I heard a horn in the distance to the northwest and got my camera ready.  Sure enough in a few minutes a southbound empty rock train flew by with an ex-SP SD40T-2 leading.

(Read on …)

Judy and Molly and I checked out of the motel and were at the depot at 7:00am, but we could have slept in.  We parked on the north side of the tracks on Baylor Street, and there was a long string of rock gondolas parked on the main that had #844 trapped in the siding behind his train.  It seems a northbound rock train had stalled on the hill ahead, and the power from this rock train had cut off and gone on to shove the first one up the hill to Sneed siding.  I got on the cell phone and called Leonard Ruback and David Hawkins to advise them of the delays, and then settled in for the wait.  The scheduled 8:00am departure came and went, but eventually the unseen power accomplished its mission and returned, and the rock cars slowly pulled away to the north.

Now the dispatcher decided he had to take two more northbounds past us before letting #844 out to run around and get on his train while he brought even more northbounds up to Bergstrom behind him.  While this was going on, I took a series of shots of the locomotive and its crew as they patiently waited.

(Read on …)

Saturday morning my wife wanted to rest in the room for awhile before visiting with her friends, so I headed out to see what I could find.  First up I drove to the Mary Street grade crossing south of the bridge over Town Lake.  From here you can look north down the steep grade up from the lake with the skyline in the background. This is a shot I had wanted to get on my last visit, but did not happen since this line primarily sees northbound traffic.  It looked like today would be no different, but I had only driven a few blocks away when the dispatcher told the UP 7533 South he would be going to Bergstrom for several northbounds.  I quickly headed back to the crossing and set up with the 100-400 zoom before the power came into view, working hard uphill around the distant curve.

(Read on …)

My wife and I and Molly our “Border Lab” loaded up after luch today and drove south down I35 to Austin to visit friends and see UP 4-8-4 #844 run from Austin to Palestine on Monday.  The UP was quiet all the way down, and after we checked into our motel I headed down to the depot while we waited for our friends to join us for dinner.  The late afternoon sun was directly on 844’s nose as I and several other local fans watched UP personnel set up the viewing ramp next to the fireman’s window for Sunday’s public viewing.

I got my only shot of the day as a northbound freight pulled slowly by the silent steamer, its SD70M representing over 60 years of changes in locomotion from the time of the 844’s construction.

I had forgotten about this picture when I first published today’s log.  We left Molly in our motel room when we went to dinner with friends.  The bed was made when we left, but when we got back we found she had made herself right at home.