Thursday July 15th was the date set for the closing of the sale of my father’s ranch in Sweetwater, set for sometime after lunch. After breakfast Troy and I heard an eastbound UP train talking to the depot about supplies the outbound crew would need, so we drove to the west switch of the siding to see the UP 5472 East leave town with a stack train.
With only two units up front we were sure there would be a DPU, and sure enough the UP 8413 was bringing up the rear.
With nothing else close by on the radio, Troy and I drove back to Roscoe to see if we would have better luck photographing Eagle Railcar’s CF7 in its new paint scheme, and we did!
On the way back into Sweetwater we stopped at the first grade crossing west of the depot on the Toyah Sub and shot this Fort Worth Service Unit sign mounted on the signal house for westbound trains.
There was still nothing near on the UP, and not knowing the exact time of the closing of the sale, we decided Troy would go ahead and start back for Fort Worth driving the U-Haul truck with Judy following in her car. I stayed behind to wait it out beside the UP mainline with a book.
