FL9

We will have short posts for the next two days as Christmas approaches, and then Monday I hope to start the last chapters of the trip home from Montana.  Today we have a subject that is somewhat in line with a white Christmas, although not as white as Denver right now.

I was on the Brookside Drive overpass in the Dallas neighborhood of Tenison in February of 1993 when I snapped this picture of a KCS train southbound on its way to the AT&SF Dallas Yard only a few miles further ahead.  Today the site of the old AT&SF Dallas Yard is occupied by the DART maintenance yard and shops; and this track north of there to the new connection at Tenison about a half-mile behind the train in this picture is no longer in use.  Someone correct me as it has been several years since I have driven past here, and I think the rails have been removed and the right-of-way railbanked by DART.

Today KCS and DGNO trains follow the old SP right-of-way from Tenison to the east of this location down to KCS Junction where they get on the UP to do their interchange business.

I checked out several locations east of downtown Fort Worth, but nothing looked remotely appealing until I reached the Tierney Road crossing just east of the crossovers at CP T241, known as POLY.  No great beauty to be found here either, but the foreground was open, and the background not too cluttered either.  I had called John Briggs earlier, and after he arrived we cleared trash out of the scene as 9:00am passed with radio traffic indicating the special was departing on time.  The train was turned 180 degrees at Tower 55 in record time, and at 9:20 we could hear the distictive K5LLA on the MP 1982 as the headlight appeared around the curve at track speed.  Wishing the sun had been out, at least I was able to get the whole train in one shot as it rapidly approached.

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Monday morning was slow at the office, so I took some of my comp time and headed down to the old T&P depot on the south side of downtown Fort Worth to see if my sources were correct.  Sure enough, the MP and the M-K-T Heritage SD70ACe’s were there, facing west with a 13-car train in the business car track.  Access to the north side of the train was blocked by security as UP Chairman & CEO Dick Davidson would be riding today to Little Rock with VIP’s aboard.  This meant my only option for a still shot was from the “suicide” north shoulder of I30 West.  It took a bit of manuevering to get there, but I made it and turned on the flashers before piling out for a few quick shots under partial sun.  First was a view of the two units and a few of the cars emphasizing the T&P depot.

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Once dad’s caregiver arrived, I started back for Fort Worth shortly after 4:00pm on Sunday the 17th.  The radio offered me eastbound UP and BNSF trains ready to leave Sweetwater within a few minutes of each other.  I drove down to the west end of the BNSF Tecific siding to see how this would play out.  The UP train made it through first, and here we see him headed towards Fort Worth as I stand beside the BNSF Lampassas Sub.

(Read on …)