FL9

After catching the Austin Western’s westbound rock train, I drove back by the Capital Metro light rail maintenance base just north of Highway 183, and got this side view across a vacant lot of the 104 parked next to the mainline.  A modern RDC, the 104 is one of six cars built by a Swiss firm, Stadler Rail, and is powered by two 400 horsepower diesel engines.  The car can accomodate 108 passengers sitting and 92 standing and will work the 32-mile MetroRail line between downtown Austin and Leander starting this fall.

I heard car 101 call their dispatcher on the radio to get permission to come out and start testing, so I drove to the crossing just north of the north switch out of the facility where I had been earlier.  For those with trunk tracking scanners, I was able to track down the railroad talkgroups on the LCRA radio system used by Capital Metro for the light rail along with the Austin Western and the ASTA; and they are listed on the Short Line and Industrial frequency list under the Austin Western.  The car came out onto the main and stopped for this side view as the switch was lined back to normal.

I had hoped it would proceed north on past me, but instead it started to move south just as I snapped this more head-on view.

Not having time to follow it downtown, I decided to let that wait until another visit.