FL9

After a busy morning of railfanning, I was planning on working at home in the cool air conditioning Sunday afternoon on Father’s Day, but Brian Tindle called to say he was going to catch a westbound UP intermodal at my favorite cut on the Baird Sub in Boaz Park about a mile from the house.  I could not resist and grabbed up the camera and headed out into the heat.  I met Brian on top of the cut, and the radio told us the dispatcher was going to bring the MODFW train in while the ZNSLC was undergoing his 1000-mile inspection.  The afternoon light did not favor eastbounds, but I took the shot anyway as a challenge to deal with the backlighting as he swept around the curve towards us.

We took shelter in our vehicle’s air conditioning until we heard the carmen say the blue flags were being dropped on the “Z” train.  We moved back up onto the cut, and our luck failed as we got clouded out just as the train arrived in our viewfinders.

This loss was somewhat offset by the fact the trailing unit was a Norfolk Southern high hood GP50, a rare sight this far west.

There was no sign of anything else coming soon, so Brian and I parted company and headed for our respective homes.  Not a bad Father’s Day all things considered.