FL9

The weathermen said we would finally get some relief from the heat and drought starting this afternoon as a cold front moves in from the north.  John Briggs and I decided to get out early this morning before the front arrived, and that turned out to be a good decision.  The TRE dispatcher spoke to a BNSF loaded coal train that wanted to head east to Dallas enroute to Teague, preferring the empty commuter line today to the UP Midlothian Sub.  We set up on the east bank of the Trinity River and got a good view with the morning-lit skyline as a backdrop.

He was moving slow enough that we were able to make it to the East 4th Street overpass well ahead of him.  The sun was behind a small cloud, but in one of those moments it popped out to illuminate the nose the second before I snapped the shutter.

His slow speed helped us to decide to catch him one more time at the Richland Hills TRE station.  It was expectedly deserted, and we had a few minutes to pick our angles.  I chose one to make sure the station sign was clearly readable.

I swung around to get him travesing the deserted platform, the moving sign endlessly repeating its messages to no one until Monday morning.

The radio sounded like it might be busy soon up at Saginaw on the BNSF, so we hopped on Highway 183 to I35 North.  When we passed over FWWR Hodge Yard, we could see that newest GP50 #2012 was parked on the east end in good light, so we doubled back for this shot.

The 2012 was lined up just right for this shot of the newest and the oldest units on the property right now.  GP7 #1500 is out of service due to a blown piston, and is due to be trade in material to National Railway Equipment for more locomotives.

With that job done, we headed on up to the East Southern Avenue crossing just south of the diamonds in Saginaw.  After a few minutes Rescar’s CF7 pulled up to be the subject of our first shot at this location.

Just as I took the picture I could hear a northbound horn on the BNSF, and walked quickly back to their crossing for this shot.

Next I zoomed back to get him in the same frame with the flour mill switcher.

We read our magazines for awhile, and then another northbound BNSF showed up, but this time led by one of the infamous faded heritage paint jobs.

This train went to Lake Wanda, and released the Cleburne Local to come south over the diamonds in a cloud of flying rats.  See if you can find them, just like “Where’s Waldo?”

Shortly after he passed, a yard job came back from the cement plant spur with string of cars to back into the yard.

As the yard job made their moves, now it was time for a loaded UP coal train to come into Saginaw from the connection off of the Wichita Falls Sub.  You can begin to see the dark clouds to the northwest in the background as the front approaches.

Within minutes of the coal train’s passing, a northbound Temple to Tulsa train came around the connection from North Yard, and I shot him with the Chamber of Commerce / Kosse Depot in the background.

While he stopped to line the hand throw switch to enter the Fort Worth Sub, we spotted a fairly unusual visitor in the form of a Bessemer & Lake Erie coil steel car.

A closer look revealed an even more rare sighting these days, one of the famous “Herby” chalk drawings.  Theoretically drawn years ago by a now-deceased carman, they always depict a sombrero wearing individual resting under a palm tree.

We decided to head on down to the Centennial Yard engine terminal at this point, but before we had driven two blocks the radio came alive with a train asking to come off the Wichita Falls Sub and head around the connection to Alliance.  We made a quick U-turn and drove to the Jarvis Road crossing at CP11 to catch him heading due east into the sun.  It turned out to be an intermodal with the new “swoosh” logo on the first two units.

The radio did not stop us from leaving Saginaw this time, and when we arrived at the Centennial engine terminal there were several worthy subjects on hand.  I put on the 100-400mm lens so as to stay beyond the no trespassing signs, and lined up on this eastbound SD70ACe first as he waited to leave the bypass with his train.

A pair of CP units were being hostled around across the way, and I zoomed in on “red barn” #9005 first.

The trailing unit was a SD40-2 #6068.

The final catch was one of the Railpower Green Goat demos, RPRZ #2401.

Later in the afternoon the clouds, rain and cooler temperatures arrived in Fort Worth!