FL9

Today and tomorrow are going to be overtime days at work and then I’ll be in Sweetwater on dialup access for the long Labor Day weekend taking care of my father.  As a result I have already loaded some pictures and brief text and put the website on autopilot to publish an entry each day until next Tuesday.  Have a nice holiday, I hope!

August of 1996 found myself and friends chasing a loaded AT&SF coal train south from Las Animas, CO on its way down to Boise City, OK and on to Amarillo.  After about twenty miles we were ready to give up the chase and head back to La Junta, but we needed something to “identify” the final shot as the train rolled through the non-descript plains of southeastern Colorado.  Only a mile or two ahead of him, we found it in the form of the station sign at Ruxton, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  It was the ideal landmark to place in the photo with the three ATSF and one UP Ge’s on the point.

This still being the time of cabooses on most all trains, it also made for the perfect going away shot with extended vison caboose #999716 bringing up the rear instead of today’s common DPU’s.

This gave us closure on the chase, so we headed on back towards La Junta and Trinidad for more action.