FL9

With my morning time starting to run short, I followed the BNSF 7525 South as it left South Haslet.  I drove on ahead and positioned myself on the Highway 287 overpass for this shot as the train passed the real Lake Wanda.  It actually looks more like a pond these days as it is increasingly surrounded by new housing developments.

The autorack train flagged into Lake Wanda the siding behind the grain train from earlier to meet two northbounds, so I returned to the overpass at South Haslet.  The first northbound was just a merchandise train, but the power of three SD40-2’s is becoming more rare in these days of endless GEVO’s and SD70’s.

I pushed the time limit waiting on the second train, but determining from the radio that it was an intermodal I wanted a shot of its uniform containers stretched around the big curve to close out the morning of DINA.  I got my wish just in time, and then quickly headed home to change into a wedding photographer.

I finished up at the wedding reception shortly after 6:00pm, but things were quiet as I paralleled Davidson Yard heading west.  I tried to recreate my Crepe Myrtle photo at Boaz Park, but a stray cloud put an end to the bright colors at exactly the wrong moment.  I moved on west to Aledo, and my next two shots at and just after sunset along with one from the morning also not yet shared here will comprise my three DINA submissions.  As closure to the day, here is my last shot taken at 9:30pm as a westbound UP intermodal cut a lighted swath through town.

It had been a long but successful day, so I headed back home to rest up.