FL9

A Wet Monday

KenFL9 — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:19:37 +0000

Monday May 5th was my last day in Austin, and on the way to work after checking out of the motel I stopped at the Austin Amtrak station. The weather was now cool with a light rain falling compared to the last few sunny days. I decided to look for some kind of mood shot as Amtrak 22 was only a few minutes south of town at the time. Umbrella in hand, I stood at the west end of the platform as the train came into view around the curve after crossing what was until recently Town Lake.

As now familiar P42 204 passed by, the passengers gathered up their belongings and prepared to assault the train to get out of the gentle rain.

As they boarded at the beginning of their journey in Austin, I headed on to finish up my local tasks. Judy and I ended our Austin trip a few hours later when we left town on I35 driving north towards Fort Worth and home.

Now it’s GE’s Turn

KenFL9 — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:54:07 +0000

Yesterday’s blog pictures consisted entirely of EMD locomotives, while today’s are all GE products. While sitting at the County Road 401 crossing west of Taylor I thought Amtrak 22 northbound would be next, but then I heard a rumble growing in volume coming out of town in the opposite direction. I repositioned to the outside of the curve, and in a minute the UP 7502 South along with two more big GE’s roared by with an empty rock train.

I stepped closer after the last car had passed for this going away shot of the string of empty rock hoppers highballing towards Austin.

With a northbound still at Hestes I decided this train must be going at least to Round Rock for Amtrak 22, and after reading Railpace for a few minutes the radio confirmed this to be true as it took the siding there. After a period of time a K5LA cound be heard in the distance, and shortly P42 204 swung into view and traversed a small sag with its Superliners in tow.

I quickly drew back with the zoom to capture the whole train in the curve.

Swinging around, I got the high level cars snaking around the curve on the approach to Taylor.

It sounded like the poor northbound at Hestes was still going to be stuck for awhile, so I headed on back to Austin to get some work done. On the way I heard the UP 7502 exiting onto the Austin Western at McNeil to head west towards the rock quarries.

EMD’s Dead and Living

KenFL9 — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:23:34 +0000

Sunday morning once I got out of the motel I started listening to the UP Austin Sub dispatcher. He was talking to the BNSF 6477 North that was approaching Round Rock, so being in north Austin I was already behind in the game. As this was an SD45-2, I quickly headed out in pursuit towards Taylor. The BNSF 6477 North turned out to be a five unit light engine movement that I ovetook at Hestes where it was stopped on the main next to an also northbound UP merchandise train in the hole. I drove on up towards Taylor and just west of town found a southbound train backing into the yard and causing the delay. Behind its unremarkable UP units and dead in consist was the SP 8283, a hulk of an SD40T-2 that was obviously on its way to or from a deadline somewhere.

Once the southbound had cleared up in the yard, the BNSF 6477 North was allowed to proceed out of Hestes, and I caught the units running about 40mph at the County Road 401 crossing.

The 6477 was leading a lashup totaling three SD45-2’s and two SD40-2’s, all looking good despite their age.

The BNSF 6866 was bringing up the rear as these units headed into Taylor and then north on the Waco Sub towards Temple.

I figured Amtrak 22 would probably be next northbound overtaking the UP merchandise train still at Hestes, but I was wrong.

An Enduring ALCO

KenFL9 — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:24:18 +0000

Late in the afternoon on Saturday I headed northwest out of Austin on Highway 183 towards Cedar Park. I knew the ASTA passenger train had just left Bertam by listening in on the LCRA radio system they share with Capital Metro and the Austin Western. I made it to a crossing on the north side of Leander after passing the new light rail station under construction there. After about 15 minutes I was rewarded with this view of ALCO RSD15 442 and its train.

The caboose on the rear adds a nice touch. You can see the new light rail station ahead of the consist on the left side.

The passenger train’s leisurely pace allowed me to get ahead for this scene along the highway between Leander and Cedar Park.

I was also able to get a good broadside of the locomotive with the entire logo visible.

Back in Cedar Park after the passengers were detrained at the new facility along side the yard, I visited with some of the crew. Lastly I took one final shot of the 442 as it was parked for the night next to caboose 999418, an appropriate move as both are ex-Santa Fe.

Sunday moring if the forecast clouds held off, I planned to try to get a few trains on the Austin Sub before going to work.

Austin’s Upcoming Light Rail

KenFL9 — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:45:15 +0000

After catching the Austin Western’s westbound rock train, I drove back by the Capital Metro light rail maintenance base just north of Highway 183, and got this side view across a vacant lot of the 104 parked next to the mainline. A modern RDC, the 104 is one of six cars built by a Swiss firm, Stadler Rail, and is powered by two 400 horsepower diesel engines. The car can accomodate 108 passengers sitting and 92 standing and will work the 32-mile MetroRail line between downtown Austin and Leander starting this fall.

I heard car 101 call their dispatcher on the radio to get permission to come out and start testing, so I drove to the crossing just north of the north switch out of the facility where I had been earlier. For those with trunk tracking scanners, I was able to track down the railroad talkgroups on the LCRA radio system used by Capital Metro for the light rail along with the Austin Western and the ASTA; and they are listed on the Short Line and Industrial frequency list under the Austin Western. The car came out onto the main and stopped for this side view as the switch was lined back to normal.

I had hoped it would proceed north on past me, but instead it started to move south just as I snapped this more head-on view.

Not having time to follow it downtown, I decided to let that wait until another visit.

Austin Western

KenFL9 — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:10:54 +0000

On Saturday May 4th it was perfectly clear when I left the motel room in Austin. The light rail shop for Austin Metro was only a few blocks away, so I drove by there to see if I could see any signs of testing. To my surprise when I crossed the tracks just north of the facility a headlight was visible coming my way. I pulled over quickly, and it turned out to be an Austin Western rock train moving about 20 mph. Note the not-yet-in-service signals turned away on the left.

This was my first picture of the new WATCO power in Austin, so I immediately decided it was worth a chase. After close to 100 cars rolled by, I headed north following the tracks the best I could. Thanks to the train’s low speed I was able to get ahead of it and find a nice open spot with no poles in the background about a mile east of Abbott Yard.

GP50 5001 and the four other matching units on the point look very good to me in this paint scheme.

I would have liked to follow the train further, but I had other appointments to keep before trying to catch the Austin & Texas Central in the afternoon.

The Glow of the Headlight

KenFL9 — Sun, 11 May 2008 13:13:20 +0000

Friday night on May 2nd I was on the way back to our motel room in north Austin when I decided to swing my McNeil to see the new Captal Metro light rail overpass I had heard about. Even though it was dark, a Capital Metro security guard was present along with two local railfans in front of the landmark post office, so I joined the group for conversation. The new overpass just south of the diamond certainly changes the character of the scene, but should make for some interesting shots. I was tired and thinking about leaving when the signals changed shortly after 9:00pm and the radio spoke of the approach of a late Amtrak 21. At first I thought I would just watch the train go by, but the lights of the Austin White Lime Company stirred my interest, so I got out the 5D and cranked my ASA up to 1600. Propping myself on my SUV’s passenger side mirror, I squeezed off this shot an instant before the glow of the headlight on the left turned into a blindiing beam as the leading P42 crested the small hill heading down to the diamond.

Satisfied with my train picture without a train in physical view, I bid my farewells and headed off to the motel and welcome sleep.

18,000 Horsepower on the Mopac Freeway

KenFL9 — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:44:29 +0000

Friday May 2nd found my wife and I in Austin for a few days to help out a family member. While out picking up supplies I heard a northbound train hit the detector at the south end of town, so I headed for one of my favorite local spots. The light was perfect as I positioned myself on the 35th Street overpass over the Mopac Freeway. It was not long before a yellow mass much larger than any of the surrounding cars appeared to be swimming upstream with the rest of the salmon. 18,000 horsepower in the form of three UP AC6000W’s were pulling a loaded rock train of between 70 and 80 cars up the steep grade at a steady 15 mph.

The slow and steady pace of the train made for a good sequence of its approach.

I took one more shot before the head end disappeared around the curve, the battle with the hill still engaged for a few more miles.

As this was a unit train of WRRC cars, I assumed the it probably originated at Dittlinger on the south side of New Braunfels. Does anyone know what percentage the steepest part of this grade is?

Bless the Brush Cutter

KenFL9 — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:36:02 +0000

John Briggs alerted me the UP had run their brush cutter down the Midlothian Sub from Ney Yard, and that the view looking north downgrade from Campus Drive in south Fort Worth was now open to the point you could see the full “S” curve. The next day on Saturday April 26th Danny Sisson and I took advantage of this in the morning hours. We just missed a BNSF freight here by less than a minute, but luckily a UP local was right behind it.

Two Gensets and two cars were just the right length to capture a train here in a still photo and be able to see the whole “S” curve too. This would be a great spot for a video of a loaded coal train coming up grade.

Ending with a Reflection

KenFL9 — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:24:13 +0000

The BNSF 4009 East we had caught earlier got a track warrant to meet a westbound train at Herman, so we situated ourselves in the middle of the “S” curves between Herman and Fairview to catch the westbound first. In the end we had to wait a good while for the BNSF 5318 West to show up as that train made a pickup of new tank cars from the Trinity Plant before leaving Saginaw.

We walked around the curve a bit and cleaned out a few branches to get this shot of the 4009 East coming around the curve at milepost 31.

I dropped Troy and Russ off at their vehicle in Rhome, and still managed to get ahead of the 4009 East for one more photo. The unexpected accumulation of water in the ditch provided a reflection to be utilized.

I took my last photo of the day as the 4667 in DPU mode was providing braking power from the rear end as the loaded sulphur train approached milepost 11 in Saginaw.

Three great sunny days of railfanning in a row, but now it was time to return to earth.