FL9

This will be a brief post tonight as the only internet access I have at my father’s house is via dialup.  Today’s final round trip to Colorado City out of Sweetwater ran flawlessly with over 70 guests on board.  Traffic was light as we met an eastbound intermodal before we left Sweetwater, and one westbound intermodal was in the hole for us at Loraine on our return trip.  The train was put back in the house track and we did a quick cleanup and held our last safety debriefing before a fresh crew took the train out towards Fort Worth while an eastbound intermodal waited at the depot to follow in its wake.  Here we see Sweetwater MYO (Manager Yard Operations) Steve Lenz waiting to line up behind after the special pulls out at 12:05pm.

I heard from Danny Sisson in Fort Worth as he witnessed the special arriving there at around 6:00pm.  The cars along with three more already in Fort Worth are supposed to return to Council Bluffs right away.  It certainly was a busy and rewarding week, and I plan on sleeping in on Sunday after I get home tomorrow afternoon.

Today we were scheduled to leave Sweetwater at 9:30am to run east with stops at Merkel, Abilene, and Clyde before returning back west.  Before we left the first train of the day was the UP 7619 West that came to a stop to change crews after we finished our morning safety meeting.

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THe UP safety special deadheaded to Sweetwater today from Odessa so we may resume our trips tomorrow.  Traffic was up today with a large number of intermodals on the Toyah Sub running in both directions.  I first caught an eastbound intermodal west of Big Spring as I waited for the special to come past me.

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Today dawned cool, cloudy and windy.  Our train ride would consist of a round trip west to Monahans, TX, and we had a good turn out of law enforcment officers from the state, county, and city.

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