FL9

Saturday October 20th was Railroad Illustrated’s “Day in North America” for 2007.  I had originally planned to drive out to Sweetwater for the day, but late in the week the UP called and asked if I would photograph their Davidson Yard “Family Day” also on Saturday.  I immediately agreed and decided to spend the morning around North Annetta on the Baird Sub before heading back to the yard for Family Day.  Sleeping in on Saturday was very inviting, but I managed to get out of the house an hour before sunrise and work my way out to North Annetta.  A westbound intermodal left Fort Worth a little after 7:00am, and I hoped for a sunrise picture.  I picked a good spot where the sun would rise over the train, but alas he was moving too fast and the UP 7740 West with four new GEVO’s passed me at 7:31am about five minutes too soon for the picture I wanted.

With my obligation for later in the morning in mind, I decided not to chase him further west as I would have to go a long way to get any good light on a westbound in the morning.  Another deciding factor was an eastbound train coming to Earls for the 7740 west that would have perfect nose light when it reached me.  I dropped back to the highway 5 crossing and set for the eastbound.  I’m glad I brought plenty of magazines to read as I waited and waited for the eastbound to leave Earls. Now the radio was silent, and the dispatcher seemed to be ignoring the calls from the UP 3853 East at Earls.  Part of the mystery was solved when a high railer came past me heading west at 8:45am.

The high railer went on to Weatherford and got off the track as the ZMQLA and another westbound were now coming out of Fort Worth.  I could not find a good “going away” shot I liked, and finally settled for this mediocre view of the UP 4877 West across an open field.  Too bad there was no livestock at the water tank to add some interest to the scene.

Driving back to the Highway 5 crossing I set up for this telephoto view of the second westbound coming around the tight curve.  The UP 8043 West turned out to be an autorack train, and the low angle made for a more interesting picture even with the back lighting.

Wes Carr, also out for DINA, called from west of Weatherford to find out what the FWWR would be doing later for the day.  I called the FWWR dispatcher and got a lineup, but before I could call Wes back a locomotive horn west of my location warned of the approach of the UP 3853 East that I had been waiting close to 2 1/2 hours for.  I set up with the long telephoto and a monopod to help with the rising winds and snapped this picture at 10:52am as the train roared past at track speed trailing a cloud of leaves.

The light on the nose was good, and I figured on having at least this one shot to enter in DINA for my morning’s effort.  It was not until I processed the RAW shot last night that I noticed some comedian with white paint and a steady hand had worked on the nose herald.  Here is a cropped version of the last picture that should make it obvious.

I called Wes back as I followed the eastbound back to Fort Worth, and arrived at the Family Day event set up in the employee parking lot south of the diesel shop as the 3953 East left town after a crew change.