FL9

After a quick lunch in Temple and before following the UP south towards Taylor, we headed in the general direction of the BNSF fuel pads.  Just as we arrived in the neighborhood, a train pulled out northbound that at a distance had five blue and yellow units on the point.  I pulled a quick u-turn, but arrived at each crossing seconds behind the head end as he motored on towards the depot.  Giving up was not an option as the power revealed itself to be an A-A-B-A-A lashup of SD45-2’s on an empty rock train.  With this fact in evidence, I hoped he would be heading out the Lampassas Sub as the road vs. railroad situation would finally let me get ahead of him.  As you can see from this first picture of him about to pass under I35, my hopes were answered.

The conductor was busy taking my picture on his cell phone as I was shooting the lead unit.  No calls yet from the BNSF police, so it must have been for his own entertainment.

The SD45-2 B-Unit had been recently renumbered into the 6500 series from the 7500’s to make room for new units.

The tracks of the Lampassas Sub head west before turning back south to parallel I35 to Belton, so we were able to get ahead and set up at this spot for a wider side view of this lashup that is truly unique in this day and age.

The even rarer SD45-2 B-Unit warranted one more shot also as the train sped by on its way to Brownwood.

Catching it again would require an extended chase in the wrong direction towards Brownwood, so we drove east from Belton towards Little River to intercept the UP’s Waco Subdivision and get back on course for Flatonia.