FL9

I did promise something new for today, and I meant from just a few days ago.  Last Sunday morning both my wife and I had a full day of respective tasks to accomplish around the house.  It was bitterly cold as I walked the dog, but I got the urge to play hooky from responsibility for the morning and find a few trains to photograph as the sky was perfectly clear.  I was mildly surprised when I got back and told Judy about my feelings that she agreed we should postpone our work and get out together for awhile.  I grabbed my camera bag while Judy gathered some reading material.  We started in the direction of Saginaw, and when we arrived at the Southern Avenue crossing just south of the diamonds a pair of light engines was approaching from the north.

With the wind chill I only stayed out of the Pilot long enough to get the shot.  I was warm again by the time a southbound autorack train showed up a few minutes later.  This was working out OK so far because with the low winter sun in the southern hemisphere, the light was best for southbounds and eastbounds in the morning.

Once the autorack had passed by, DS22 lined a loaded coal train off of the Wichita Falls Sub down towards Saginaw Yard.  We moved on up to McLeroy Boulevard and I zoomed out to 400mm to catch him trailing away back to the south leg of the Wye.

Now the radio came alive with the sounds of someone toning up the TRE dispatcher, whose territory is basically dormant on Sundays.  I stopped it from scanning, as this might get interesting……

Well until I scan more MP slides anyway.  Today I have two cloudy day shots, proving the weather never stood in my way.  This first scene has changes some over the years as we see a MP switch job crossing the Trinity River westbound from Dallas to Browder Yard in February of 1987.

Three years later in 1990 and a few hundred miles east we see a full signal bridge just east of Texarkana, AR as four GP50’s pull an eastbound freight towards Little Rock on a rainy afternoon.

I promise something new for tomorrow! 

East Yard and Ginnie Yard just to the east of Tower 55 were always a good spot for MP photos back in the 1970’s.  On August 6th in 1978 two SD40-2’s and a caboose, better known as a “caboose hop”, were waiting for north-south traffic to clear up before heading on west to Centennial Yard.

A year later on September 5th in 1979 two SW1200’s paused in their switching moves as the southbound Amtrak “Inter-American” pulled by two SDP40F’s is arriving from Dallas.

Amtrak’s train passing this location 28 years later is now the ”Texas Eagle”, and what remains of these yard tracks see little use except to park trains.

Today we have two more Missouri Pacific slidesfrom the past, this time from Oklahoma.  First up is a southbound train with two SD40-2’s crossing the Arkansas River into Muskogee, OK, providing a reflection in the water below on October 7th in 1978.

Secondly on October 10th a year earlier in 1977 from the highway 69 overpass in Wagoner, OK we see a southbound freight out of Coffeyville, KS with two SD40-2’s and a U30-C approaching the Katy crossing.

Since I’m on a roll with MP memories, tomorrow I have two shots from Tower 55.