“It’s with a heavy heart I share this tragic news…

Shortly before 10am on Wednesday morning KCS lost one of their brothers in train service. Shannon Isaiah Bigler, 36, was killed in a one vehicle car accident on US 69 near Lone Oak. Authorities are reporting his vehicle hydroplaned and struck a tree. Earlier in the day he brought SHDA to Wylie from Shreveport. He leaves behind his wife and children, including one very young infant. His wife Nicole was a classmate of one of my brothers and was a member of my church. Please pray for comfort and peace for this sweet family, their relatives and friends, and his peers at KCS.”

I met a very nice man Saturday afternoon that I only will have ever known for a few minutes. Hindsight is the best sight, and I should have gone back to the car and gotten the flash unit in order to do a better job on these photos of Isaiah. I promised him in my email later that I would do a better job the next time. Now there will be no next time, but I am glad to at least have these to offer to his family.

Inside the first exhibit car was this display of uniforms worn by on board service personnel.

Across from the uniforms was this well lit HO model train donated by Walthers.

Looking back the other way here is a close up of a conductor’s uniform.

My attention was naturally drawn to the Amtrak horn exhibit.

First up was the Nathan P01235 used on the E60 electric locomotives.

Next in line was the Leslie SL-4T used on the EMD SDP40F locomotives.

Third up was the Nathan P1234A5 used on the P30CH, Turboliner, and first order of F40PH locomotives.

Finally came the famous Nathan K5LA used on later orders of F40PH and all AEM-7, P40 and P42 locomotives.

These plexiglass tubes with rope lighting really made the HO scale display trains stand out.

Here is the control stand from an EMD F40PH.

The next plexiglass tube contained a model of the Acela high speed train with old travel posters in the background.

Complimenting the Acela display was this exhibit showing off the cantenary used past and present in the Northeast Corridor.

As we left the last exhibit car I looked back for an overall view.

I don’t think anyone passed through the souvenir car without making a purchase, including John and family. Judy and I bought two coffee mugs, a book and video combo, and a Walthers Superliner lounge car to finish up a complete train set I have been putting together.

On the outside again I captured one of the car decals celebrating the 40th anniversary.

On the way out I took one last photo of the 822.

I do like this paint scheme on these units much more than the current one!

The power turned out to be GP38-2 2006 leading SD40-2 2015, SD40R 2016 and SD40-2 2018. We piled back into our vehicles and finally got ahead of the train again just west of Mustang Creek as it climbed the grade towards Cresson.

Around the curve from the grade crossing on Winscott-Plover Road we stopped for this sequence of shots.

Our next spot was on the east side of the Highway 377 grade crossing in Cresson as the train passed the switch to the Cleburne Sub.

Next up on our chase was the bridge over Lake Granbury as seen from the adjacent Business 377 bridge. As this photo would be going to FWWR for their own use I software scrubbed all the grafitti off of the bridge for this pristine view.

As the train started up the 1% westbound grade between Granbury and Tolar they lost the 2006 which slowed them down to less than 10 mph and allowed us to get these shots near the Colony Road crossing.

We easily moved ahead to a private crossing about two miles further west for this sequence as the train crept by with the three SD40’s shoving the silent 2006 hard in Run 8 while laying down copious amounts of sand on the rails.

Shortly after this the train crested the grade at the east end of Tolar, and by this time we were waiting downtown to get this shot of the station sign at 4:10 pm.

We let the train go here and as it headed on towards Dublin we made our way back towards Fort Worth. We made one brief stop in Cresson to photograph the third new unit recently purchased by the FWWR, an ex-SAL, ex-CSX GP40 now the FWWR 2020 to be painted next spring.

David and Ron had along drive yet back to the northeast side of the Metroplex while I was only ten minutes away from home after my first successful chase for 2012.

None of us opted to chase the train, and after visiting a bit more we decided to drive up to Hodge yard to photograph the two ex-DT&I, ex-GT GP40’s that have been purchased by the FWWR. These two units will become the FWWR 2021 and 2022 when they are painted next spring after the weather warms up. We found them switching the west end of the yard coupled up to the FWWR 2014.

The FWWR 2013 was parked down by the new fuel spot.

After taking Judy to lunch, on the way home we shot the UP 8093 parked at the west end of Davidson Yard.

Further west towards Iona on the UP Baird Sub we caught this eastbound manifest train with all CSX power up front.

When we got home I worked the rest of the afternoon on cleaning out the garage, and I had made good progress by the time the sun was low in the southwestern sky. Not knowing if anything was close on the Baird Sub I decided to go for a “Hail Mary” train photo with the sunset, so Judy and I piled into the Explorer and parked on the cut above the west end of Iona siding. The sun sank lower and lower, and still the radio was silent. I was starting to work out a “sun setting over the empty rails” shot when at the last possible moment the radio came to life with an eastbound train passing the detector at Aledo three miles to the west. I quickly adjusted the camera settings and when the train roared upgrade through the “S” curve I was ready.

In the few seconds between the previous shot and this one I opened up the exposure another f-stop and made note the lead unit was the FXE 4008, a new SD70ACe followed by a second FXE SD70ACe and a BNSF C44-9 still in warbonnet. That lashup told me this manifest train was a BNSF trackage rights train out of Sweetwater heading for Alliance Yard.

With these two good New Year’s Eve sunset shots in the bag, Judy and I drove to the grocery store in Willow Park for a few items. On the way back home as we approached the main grade crossing in Aledo the eastbound signal lit up witha flashing yellow as I was looking at it. This meant an eastbound train was less than two miles away, and I pulled over to in front of the small row of shops facing the tracks to get my camera out one more time this year. I tried to compose a scene with what I had to work with, but there was no time to get a flash unit out and the tracks themselves are not well lit through Aledo. I could hear the tell tale exhaust of GE units coming upgrade, so I planted my back against the doorway of a shop that is directly in line with the grade crossing and braced my arms and the camera against my body for an aperature priority shot with the camera set to f/22 at ISO 400. I took a deep breath and held it just before pressing the shutter as the crossing protection started and the gates came down.

What turned out to be a ten second exposure seemed like an eternity, and I was surprised at how much the resulting picture was in focus for such a long exposure without the stability of a tripod. The advances over the past few years in image stabilization and digital cameras have made many photographic compositions more readily achievable than before. In retrospect experimenting with other settings may have resulted in a better photo, but I was out of time and ideas for what turned out to be my last physical photo taken in 2011. I am still pretty happy with the results considering the curcumstances. A westbound train was coming into Iona to meet this eastbound UP train, but we had frozen foods in the car so we drove on to the safety of home for the rest of New Year’s Eve. My thoughts were on what was in store for 2012?

While I was there things were backed up at Tower 55 with two southbound BNSF trains waiting in the queue.

The photos and reviews I have seen indicate the exhibits on the 40th Anniversary Train are worth going to see! The next stop is Oklahoma City January 14th and 15th and then back to San Antonio on January 21st and 22nd before moving on to New Orleans. More information can be found on the website: http://www.amtrak40th.com/

The FWWR 103 Job was switching the industries around the Stockyards wye at the same time, and I had a sudden realization about posing both sets of power together with only minimal delay to their respective work assignments. At the right time in their mutual ballet of switching moves, I got on the radio and asked the FWWR 103 job to stop on the Stockyards leg of the wye just clear of the switch, and then I asked the BNSF power to pull up on the Eighth Avenue leg of the wye so I could get them together as illustrated below. Next we pulled the BSNF power up close to the FWWR units for a nose to nose shot. Less than 10 minutes total elapsed time and I thanked everyone as they went back to work.

Before long the passenger train had completed its switching and departed around the wye to enter the BNSF Fort Worth Sub at Tower 60 via the connector track from the FWWR.

I jumped on ahead and was set up on the Meacham Boulevard overpass for these views of the train with Fort Worth in the background and then of the whole train coming and going.

The train pulled into Saginaw Yard and stopped in front of the yard office where the FWWR crew turned it back over to the BNSF so it could leave for an overnight trip to Arizona and another set of trips for a differerent special event. I took one final shot just before sunset and then headed home to process photos for printing and delivery.

2011 was a good year, and I will see you in 2012 in the next post!

The train was ready to head west by the time I took the third photo, so after I got back on board the Glacier View and closed the trap I radioed the 2010 that we were good to go. Here are two views of the new four track yard that has been constructed here next to highway 171 to serve the new rail industrial park. This is the destination for the new unit sand trains from Minnesota that I illustrated a while back.

Back in one of the lounge cars two people I owe a lot to in my railroad photography work were visiting; FWWR COO Richard Green on the left and BNSF Texas Division General Manager Ron Jackson on the right.

We arrived back in Cresson, and as passengers in one of the domes watched the 2010 and 2003 were uncoupled from the train and the two BNSF units were put on line to take us back to the Stockyards.

Later on as we passed Eighth Avenue yard, a FWWR switch job was in the clear for us.

The afternoon view of Fort Worth was very good from one of the dome cars as we passed over the North Fork of the Trinity.

A few minutes later we were back in the Stockyards and the satisfied passengers were assisted by BNSF and FWWR personnel in getting off safely.

I retrieved my vehicle with the intention of following the train as it would now be taken by the FWWR crew to be handed back to the BNSF at Saginaw Yard.

The passenger train stretched through the shed from the crossing at the north end all the way to the crossing on the south end.

Later on after taking many group and individual photos, here is the view out of the BNSF Glacier View as we are running between Cresson and Cleburne. Note the GPS map dislayed above. Seems familiar after seeing Abo Canyon from here just two months earlier in August.

On the left in this photo noted local rail celebrity and editor of the Cowcatcher Magazine Tim Blackwell was along for the ride today with another invited guest.

When we arrived in Cleburne two FWWR units were waiting to couple up to the rear end of the train and pull us back to Cresson.

Two minutes later the rear DPU’s came by also in Run 8, and I captured the 1996 pushing hard.

It started to rain almost immediately after I took the shot, and I hopped right back in the SUV to avoid being both cold and wet. When I got back to the store Judy was just finishing up her shopping, so my timing this Christmas Eve on getting a train shot and staying in good graces was perfect!

A few seconds later I captured this close up view with the 5D body and the medium telephoto set to 50mm.

I switched back to the 60D with the long telephoto for this going away view with milepost 8 visible on the left.

From here I stopped back in town to get something to drink and decided I would catch the return trip from the Lancaster Avenue overpass as the train exited Forest Park. I parked at the west end of the bridge and waited until the train was passing Eightlh Avenue before heading up to the bridge’s sidewalk. The train was in shadow as it left Forest Park along the Trinity River.

A few seconds later I caught the nose in one of the remaining patches of sunshine.

Vehicle traffic on Lancaster was light so I was able to cross over easily and get the going away shot with the old Montgomery Ward building in the background.

With two different passenger specials recorded to my memory cards I packed it in and drove home to process the results.