Monday Nov 26 2007
Second up on my layout tour in College Station on Sunday the 18th was Fred Holland’s excellent rendition of the Quanah, Acme & Pacific, also in an attic. Fred’s layout winds along the edges of the attic mixing towns with good expanses of open country in between, faithfully modeling his chosen prototype. Here is a selection of shots of Fred’s handiwork.
Sunday Nov 25 2007
On Saturday the 17th in College Station at the Bush Library I enjoyed Parker Lamb’s and George Werner’s railroad presentations in the morning. MY presentation on the FWWR went well enough after lunch, and we all missed out on what would have been a great presentation by Leonard Ruback who was down with the flu. On Sunday morning while Judy visited with her relatives, I had time to take in three excellent model railroads on the local tour. First up I visited the AGTRAK N-Scale Club’s layout located in Charles Gilbert’s attic. Here are some shots of this excellent layout.
Saturday Nov 24 2007
On the morning of Thursday the 15th I took a drive down to Cresson and Cleburne to gather a few current photographs for my presentation on the FWWR coming up on Saturday the 17th at the Bush Library in College Station. The Barnett Shale has had a huge effect on traffic, such that in 2007 the total car count should be around 40,000 of which 10,000 are related to the local gas and oil drilling frenzy. Highway 377 to Cresson and 174 from there to Cleburne are crowded these days with truck traffic, and new industries on line have prompted the FWWR to set up a yard office in Cresson with two switch jobs based there. Just outside Cleburne I stopped to photograph the new Key sand plant being switched by a Trackmobile.
Friday Nov 23 2007
On Wednesday the 14th I stopped by Hodge Yard in the morning to drop off a few prints. I spotted one of the few cars actually owned by the FWWR in the form of ex-ATSF hopper 307687. FWWR has about two dozen of these cars that are leased to Birdsong Peanuts to haul peanut hulls.
At the west end of Hodge Yard both GS14B’s were coupled up with a GP50 to make a transfer run to the BSNF after a while. These units are perfoming much better after cooling fan modifications and software revisions.
On the way back home I caught a westbound stack train leaving Davidson Yard on the Baird Sub heading towards Sweetwater. I used the long telephoto to bring the train up to me at the west end of the first “S” curve leaving the yard.
The UP 8411 and another unit are really generating the heat as they tackle the first grade after leaving the yard on their journey to the west coast.
