FL9

Last Saturday the 22nd David Hawkins put the word out that a northbound UP train due into Fort Worth late in the day had two of the new KCS EMD SD70ACe’s for its sole motive power.  I had to work around the house most of the day, so I was unable to join David and Shaun Levy and John Briggs on a drive to Waco to catch it down there.  They all got really good roster shots of the units sitting in the Waco siding, and called me when the train left Bellmead northbound on the Fort Worth Sub heading my way.

I was able to leave the house around 6:15pm and head down I35 as the sun was dropping rapidly towards the horizon.  I wanted to try to beat the train to Grandview, but thanks once again to the guys and constant phone calls it quickly became apparent the rapidly moving ALDTR (Automobiles - Laredo to Terminal Railroad of St. Louis) was going to easily beat me there.  I remembered the rural grade crossing at County Road 405E just south of Alvarado would have direct sun until the last moment before sunset, so I pulled over there.  I shut off the engine just as the detector at milepost 219.9 four miles further south went off.  I had time to pull up a few tall weeds and get set for these three shots at 6:55pm as the very last of the sun glinted off the shiny new locomotives with the moon visible above the lead unit’s nose.

I followed the train back north, and when I heard him call a restricting signal on the approach to Egan, I exited off I35 and drove the two miles west over to the siding.  The northbound MHOKC was in the hole, and the dispatcher quickly lined the ALDTR around it on the main line.  The sun was now down when I took this shot at 7:20pm as the train blocked my view of Steve Bledsoe and his father Mike set up on the other side of the tracks.

I drove on ahead to the south end of Ney Yard where I finally caught up with the David, Shaun and John.  We visited in the gathering darkness and watched the passage of the new ACE’s up the main and through Ney Yard a few minutes later.  This was my first time to see and photograph the new KCS paint scheme in person, and I have to say I am very impressed! 

On Saturday after the big 844 chase I rested up and worked around the house, but on Sunday afternoon I was compelled to get out again as an extra Tolar Turn was called.  The lead unit would be the newest SD40, number 2017. Unlike Friday I had plenty of time to prepare and I was waiting on the Rosedale overpass when the train arrived  at 4:51pm.  The engineer opened the throttle for the climb to Eighth Avenue just as I took my first of three pictures emphasizing the SD40’s on the point.

I could not beat them to Eighth Avenue for a photo there, so I moved on ahead to this spot along Granbury Road just south of Berry Street.

The traffic lights were with me, and I made it to this spot also along Granbury Road just south of I20 as the train once again started to accelerate.  Today’s power consist includes all three SD40’s along with GP38-3 2000 and leased NREX GP11 8748.

I was satisfied now with the pictures I had and simply paced the train along Granbury Road passing Hulen Street.  I turned west on Dirks Road towards home when I saw a slow order had allowed me to once again get ahead of the train.  I had never photographed a train crossing the plate girder bridge over Dirks Road, so I pulled over for one more picture.

If I understand correctly this bridge will eventually be replaced when Dirks Road is expanded to four lanes as south Fort Worth keeps growing.     

Leaving the house at 5:00am on Friday the 14th to chase the 844, I had already had a pretty full day when I hit the Fort Worth city limits at around 5:00pm.  Then I got a call from the FWWR that the Tolar Turn was leaving Hodge Yard with only the 3 SD40’s for power.  I did not have any shots yet of all three together yet, so I tried to beat the train to Eighth Avenue from the west side of town.  I failed in that endeavor by about five minutes thanks to rush hour traffic.  I got on the radio and asked the crew if they had any work to do at Primrose, to which I got a positive answer.  I followed them on down to the south switch and managed one good shot around all the tall grass and weeds.

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I drove back north through Park Springs and followed the tracks as much as possible north to Bowie looking for a good spot to get a final runby after the 844 left Chico on its return trip to Waurika.  If I had gone into Chico I might have gotten a few shots of 844 slipping its drivers and the crew putting down sand by hand to compensate for the Wye being overzealously greased, but hindsight is the best sight.  The train was going to be backlit now for anything but a full broadside.  I looked at the 287 overpass, but if I was on top I could not get a going-away shot of the scene I had missed that morning in addition to the coming-at-me photo.  I looked at the overpass in downtown Bowie, but wires blocked this view.  As I looped by the BNSF Wichita Falls Sub, I spotted a northbound headlight and quickly stopped for this picture of a  northbound coal empty.

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