FL9

I managed to get up and moving early this morning while it was a still relatively cool 75 degrees in Benbrook.  As I made my way east towards downtown Fort Worth, I heard the BNSF 888 North approaching Tower 55, so I decided to head for the Northside Drive overpass to try my luck.  After intently watching south for a few minutes, I had to scurry across to the north sidewalk as the horn blowing at Tower 60 announced a southbound BNSF loaded coal train.  I put on the long telephoto and caught him crossing the Trinity River as the head end came out of dynamic braking and started to power up for the climb to Tower 55.

As the head end vanished around the curve, I set up for a shot of the DPU with the skyine in the background, and was rewarded with a clean new GEVO shoving on the rear.

The brief mystery as to the location of the 888 North was solved as he came up UP’s Choctaw Main One headed for BNSF North Yard.

I got a few quick toots on the horn and a wave before he passed under my location.

His middle unit was an ex-BN SD9, so I made a valiant but ultimately futile effort to overtake him before he disappeared into North Yard.  I headed back down to Tower 60 now, and arrived only seconds before this northbound UP train with NS and CN power started through the plant to follow Choctaw Main One towards Denison.

A wide-bodied visitor from Canada broke up the otherwise solid black engine consist.

He started to negotiate the back-to-back switches that replaced the diamond at the crossing with the UP Duncan Sub as he continued up Choctaw Main One.

As soon as the northbound UP train cleared the switch out of the south end of BNSF North Yard at the top of the grade, I heard a BNSF stack train get the signal to come downhill towards my location.  A southbound vehicle train on the BNSF Fort Worth Sub arrived first, and I shot across the Choctaw and Duncan Subs at him so I would not get cut off from the car by the also approaching stack train.

Lo and behold behind the leading GEVO was an old GP9 B-unit running off its last miles.

Seconds later it was time to photograph the stack train passing me as he headed down the Duncan Sub towards Peach Yard.  This routing suggested to me that he was going to head east to Dallas over the Trinity Railway Express, which would be otherwise deserted on a Sunday.

The radio quickly confimed this as he toned up the TRE dispatcher to let him know he was coming.  I had ample time to drive down to the east bank of the Trinity River just off of Sylvania Avenue for this second skyline shot of the day.

My next move was planned for me when I heard the FWWR’s FWDU train leaving Hodge Yard for Dublin with 6 units and 74 cars, and I’ll continue the morning’s story tomorrow.