FL9

Late Saturday afternoon while we were shopping in Sweetwater with my father, the radio alerted us to two westbound BNSF trains approaching Tecific on the Lampassas Sub.  With some free time before dinner, we drove out that way and stopped first at the sewer plant crossing between Tecific and Sweetwater for a well-lit afternoon shot.  The first sound of a train turned out to be an eastbound UP on the Baird Sub a quarter-mile to the north, but as that sound died away the BNSF 5856 West came into view with an empty coal train in tow climbing the last grade into Sweetwater.

The crew gave us a friendly wave, and in a few short minutes the two unit DPU chugged on by our location and around the sharp curve towards the overpass over the UP.

Now we drove to the east end of the BNSF siding at Tecific, and before long the BNSF 4978 came into view around the curve and pulled slowly down towards us.

I looked to the west as the train passed, and as the signal snapped to green and the engineer opened the throttle, an eastbound UP intermodal on the Baird Sub was stopping at the signal guarding the crossover between the two railroads.

After the BNSF train passed by, I thought for a moment the eastbound UP train might be waiting on a westbound BNSF at the interchange track, but then the UP train whistled off and its four units started to move rapidly.  We had barely enough time to drive a half-mile east around the curve of this shot as the intermodal headed towards Fort Worth under grey skies.  Not a great photo by any means, but sometimes it is more important to beat the train and get the shot.

Just like Saturday morning, with three trains in the bag it was time to check the time and head on to family activities.