FL9

On Saturday May 4th it was perfectly clear when I left the motel room in Austin.  The light rail shop for Austin Metro was only a few blocks away, so I drove by there to see if I could see any signs of testing.  To my surprise when I crossed the tracks just north of the facility a headlight was visible coming my way.  I pulled over quickly, and it turned out to be an Austin Western rock train moving about 20 mph.  Note the not-yet-in-service signals turned away on the left.

This was my first picture of the new WATCO power in Austin, so I immediately decided it was worth a chase.  After close to 100 cars rolled by, I headed north following the tracks the best I could.  Thanks to the train’s low speed I was able to get ahead of it and find a nice open spot with no poles in the background about a mile east of Abbott Yard.

GP50 5001 and the four other matching units on the point look very good to me in this paint scheme.

I would have liked to follow the train further, but I had other appointments to keep before trying to catch the Austin & Texas Central in the afternoon.