FL9

Today on Monday the 19th the UP public safety special made a round trip from Odessa to Big Spring and return.  After our 6:45am job briefing, members of the operating department along with officers of the UPRR police department and I assembled coolers of iced down water and soft drinks along with sandwich boxes to be loaded on the train.  Before the special could pull up for loading, we had to wait for the UP 5181 West to pass by the yard office and our assembled refreshments.

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After returning from a succesful wedding shoot in San Antonio on Saturday afternoon, I was on the road again at 10:00am this morning headed for Odessa and the coming week’s grade crossing safety special.  The Baird Sub was relatively quiet, and I encountered my first train in the form of the UP 5022 East, seen here between Ranger and Tiffin.

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Finishing up Saturday March 10th that is.  After my catches in Trinity Park, when I arrived at the west side of Broadway Street to meet Bill Hemb the cars of a southbound BNSF loaded coal were pacing a southbound UP mainifest train in front of me. The light was fading rapidly now, so I made no effort to chase them.  Bill soon arrived and we talked for awhile until a patched SP GP60 and two UP gensets swung north to west at Tower 55.  We decided to head down towards Davidson Yard, which would also take me towards home.

Bill beat me down there, and when I pulled up he was shooting a pair of BNSF SD45-2’s with a transfer job heading home to Saginaw.  I pulled a quick U-turn and headed back east to the rear of a lot near the River crossovers where I could get a shot of him without trespassing as he climbed towards Tower 55.  The light was pretty much gone, but the subject matter won’t be around that much longer either, so the shot was worth the effort to me.

With no sign of the patched GP60 and gensets, I got back on Rosedale westbound to head home.  One more set of headlights coming my way prompted me to pull over next to the Trinity River as an eastbound UP train was leaving the yard.  I used the last of the workable light to get him crossing the bridge, and the forecasted clouds heralding rain over the next few days can be seen approaching from the west.

Tomorrow’s post on Sunday March 18th should cover my drive that same day between Fort Worth and Odessa to assist with UP’s grade crossing safety train for local officials the coming week in West Texas.

I had been advised that today, Saturday March 10th, Richard Benton from the FWWR would be qualifying a new person on the 2248 for Grapevine so they could again operate the 4-6-0 after the departure late last year of Troy and Gary.  I opted to wait for the Eighth Avenue run at 3:30pm out of the Stockyards, so I left the house shortly after 3:00pm and headed to Trinity Park to catch them on the long wooden trestle.  I took a book and found a good spot under a tree to relax while I charted their progress towards me on the radio.  When the time came for this picture with the rods down as preferred for steam locomotives, I only had to stand up and move a few feet into position.

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