First Snow of 2009

Last night the TV weather people all forecast snow flurries to the north and west of the DFW Metroplex with only rain here in Benbrook. Not unexpectedly they were off by a few miles and this morning around sunrise the rain turned to sleet and then to solid snow. The ground is still too warm here for any real accumulations, but the big white flakes were a welcome sight. On the way to work I stopped off in Boaz Park on the UP Baird Sub just as the UP dispatcher told a westbound “Z” train out of Mesquite they would be stopping in one of the new bypasses so an eastbound “Z” train heading to Mesquite on short time could run unimpeded through the Santa Fe bypass. I parked where I had to only walk a few feet for this shot with a light dusting of snow on the grass after the UP 8404 East showed up ten minutes later.

Now I drove further west into Boaz Park and set up at my favorite cut opposite the baseball fields. Twelve minutes later the westbound “Z” was accelerating out of town and I framed it up with some fall colors on the left and a multitude of snowflakes between me and the UP 7878 West.

The going away shot seemed to have even more snow in the air as the train approached a green signal.

With only two units up front I figured there had to be a DPU on the rear, and I was proven right two minutes later.

I made my way down the slippery hillside and was almost back to the warmth of the SUV when a horn to the east got my immediate attention. I could see another westbound headlight approaching the Benbrook Boulevard crossing, and I made a mad dash back up to the edge of the cut. Luckily the train turned out to be the LBG79 local heading to Abilene, and the train was moving slowly as it only had a yellow block at this point following the “Z” train.

By the time I made it back to the vehicle again the snow had turned to all rain, so with three in the bag in the snow in 35 minutes I drove on to work.