FL9

I parked on the south side of the Trinity and walked into the park for the southbound BNSF freight coming away from a meet at Northside.  I could see another railfan in the distance closer to the bridge, but then my attention was captured by the first rarity in the audible form of a Nathan P5 horn.  The southbound materialized with the BSNF 1027 leading.

Other than some NS units, this is the first BNSF unit I have seen and heard in many years with a Nathan P5 horn which reminds me of the long vanished Rock Island.

The second rarity was the middle unit in the lashup, the Kansas City Southern of Mexico 3418.  Without a current KCS roster avaialble, I think is some variation of a GE C30, maybe one of those that was built in Mexico.

The other railfan turned out to be Cary Poole, and after spying a southbound FWWR passing through Tower 60 we quickly relocated to the North Main Street grade crossing.  The train was a Tolar Turn moving slowly over the site of a derailement that occured at the south leg of the Stockyards wye while I was in College Station.  The lead unit was GP50 2937 leased from NRE, and while this in itself was not a rarity, the nose-mounted grade crossing bell that was unique to the CNW certainly was as it mechanically clanged its way past our location.

It was obvious the sun was gone for the duration as the forecasted rain clouds thickened, so Cary and I went our separate ways towards home.