FL9

As we approached the town of Little River just south of Temple on the UP Waco Sub, the UP dispatcher was issuing track warrants for the BNSF 6882 South to take the siding at Little River for the UP 9495 North.  This was my first ever visit to Little River, but the south switch of the siding was immediately visible to the left as we crossed the tracks.  The street sign next to where we parked indicated the proper heritage of this mainline.

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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.

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Well, “Julie” is not perfect.  Train time for Number 22 of 11:50am came and went.  One legitimate passenger arrived, and repeated calls to “Julie” showed the train to be progressively late, advising to call back as updated information was expected soon.  In retrospect I think since the train is coming off of the UP onto the BNSF at Temple, the performance reporting is adversely effected.  At 12:38pm the sound of a Nathan K5LA from the south heralded #22’s arrival.

  

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This last weekend the weather was nearly perfect, so Saturday morning Judy and I headed south to meet up with Tommy Shults and pay a first visit to the Flatonia Railfan Platform he inspired.  I had been requested by Trains Magazine to put together an article on Flatonia similar to the one that appeared in the January 2007 issue on Georgia’s railfan platforms, and now was the time to get it done.

We got out of Benbrook just before 9:00am after a visit to the Post Office so I could mail my entries to the Center for Railroad Photography and Art for their 2007 competition (always keep trying!).  We decided to follow the BNSF Fort Worth Sub to Temple, and approaching Cleburne from Cresson, the BNSF 9399 North was told on the radio to pull up to the north end of Midway to wait on traffic ahead.  We stopped by, and I shot this rear view to take advantage of the full sun.

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