FL9

I decided to stick with the UP 5028 South on the Midlothian Sub as far as Waxahachie and then start working my way back towards Fort Worth.  I was far enough ahead that I checked out this crossing a few miles east of Midlothian, and liked the scenery.  I only had to wait a few minutes for the train to catch up to me running around 40 mph.

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Sunday the 13th Judy was out of town, so I packed up Molly our yellow lab and we decided to take advantage of the clear skies and follow a train down the Midlothian Sub.  The UP soon obliged us with the 5028 South, a loaded grain train.  We caught it first passing through this pastoral scene in Forest Hill  It is hard to tell we are only a block west of the business district.

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Yesterday on Saturday the 19th I worked around the house, and managed to get lucky mid-afternoon when Judy and I were on the way to the market.  Crossing the Baird Sub on Benbrook Boulevard, when I glanced to the east a headlight was cresting the distant hill.  We made a fast U-turn and parked in time for me to get this shot of the MFWOD train with a tagged GP60 leading five more conventional cab units.

On the way back from errands later we got caught at the same crossing by the MODFW train, but this time I just watched it by.  The radio indicated a westbound intermodal would be leaving Bypass #2 as soon as the MODFW got in the clear, so after dropping Judy off at the house I drove back to the rock cut in the park.  I just had time to get set up as the UP 4073 along with three more six-axle units began their assault on Iona Hill with a long train behind.  The sun was much lower now, and the trucks were well lit instead of being in shadow as they were on the MFWOD earlier.

Last Saturday April 12th I was fortunate to catch a sunset meet between two UP trains at Iona, but exactly a week later the scene was more tranquil as no trains broke the stillness at the end of the day.

The Baird Sub is never quiet for long these days, and about an hour later while at the house I heard the horns of two back-to-back eastbounds rolling into town.

Saturday afternoon after dropping Danny off I went into the office again, but luckily got done in time to head up to Iona on the Baird Sub to see if I could get a sunset shot of a train.  At 7:20pm as the sun dipped low the UP 3829 East pulled past me at the west end of the siding on the main.

I followed the merchandise train down to the east end where it stopped, and I watched the switch roll over to the siding.  At 7:48pm as the sun dropped behind a tree a westbound intermodal train started into the siding as the 3829’s conductor looked on from the ground.

A minute later the engineer on the 3829 turned the headlight back on to get a better view of the passing well cars.

I could not find any other interesting angles that included the last rays of the sun, so I called it quits and paced the 3829 on into Fort Worth to end the day.