Saginaw Sunday Afternoon

Sunday the 29th late in the afternoon I met a friend in Keller at the railroad display to deliver some photos in return for a few railroad artifacts.  The UP Choctaw Sub was quiet, so I headed back to Saginaw with the intent of catching Amtrak 822 heading north and whatever freight action turned up in its wake.  As I waited I read the story in the Sunday Star Telegram honoring Saginaw as a good place to railfan.  For those of you who may have missed it, here is the link to the story:

“Saginaw is Becoming a Destination for Railfans”

At 5:46pm bio-diesel powered #500 came by leading the train towards Oklahoma City.

As soon as Amtrak cleared South Haslet a VKCKPEA auto rack train came south at 6:12pm with the BNSF 4035 doing the honors.  Naturally the sun went behind a cloud just before the train arrived.

A few minutes later at 6:16pm an empty coal train left Saginaw with a new crew on its way to Wichita Falls.  The BNSF 8935 was leading

while the rear DPU was the relatively new BNSF 6219 as the full sun came out momentarily.

At 6:32pm the UP put in appearance with the 3940 leading a southbound manifest train on the Duncan Sub.

The sun was still behind a large cloud when the BNSF 7654 South crossed the diamonds at 6:44pm.

At this point over the radio I heard the BNSF 7409 East on the Wichita Falls Sub stopping short of CP11, so I decided to head that way and make it my last train of the day.  Along the way I stopped to record the BNSF 1280 and another Genset with a short train at 6:58pm waiting for permission to head back to North Yard.

Up at CP11 the BNSF 7409 East looked good with three units in the H3 paint running elephant style, but heavy brush was blocking any kind of shot where the train was stopped.  I decided to drive on to the north end of Lake Wanda in hopes that DS22 would soon allow the train to come around the wye and pass me on its way to Alliance Yard.  This gamble payed off and at 7:17pm I shot the intermodal train just south of the road crossing with the last few minutes of sun above the western horizon.

With seven trains recorded in 91 minutes time I was happy to call it quits for the day!