By KenFL9 | Published:
March 4, 2010
I had a day off from work on February 15th and the sun was out, so I decided to head down to the Fort Worth ITC in the morning to see if the mid day TRE from Dallas would have RDC’s. After leaving the house I heard the BNSF 792 South get clearance through Tower 55, so I headed to the Gambrell Street crossing just south of Seminary Drive where I bagged this shot of a loaded grain.
There was a single GE shoving on the rear in DPU mode.
Arriving at the ITC a few minutes later I set up at the grade crossing north of the depot. A few minutes later Train 2921 arrived, but with standard equipment instead of the Budd cars I had hoped for.
I drove back south looking for another shot and wound up composing this one out the SUV window as F59 number 566 quickly overtook me and crossed over Lancaster Avenue on the approach to the T&P depot.
As my eyes followed the TRE train towards the depot I saw a UP train in the background that looked like it was about to go south towards Ney Yard. The radio identified it as the MFWEW train, so I relocated to Arizona Avenue on the east side of the Choctaw Sub where I took this photo a few minutes later.
In a moment I recognized the trailing unit as a Fort Worth & Western. When it passed by I could see it was the original 2009, a GP50 problem child that was traded back to NREX in return for a GP40-2.
A phone call confirmed this and that the first 2009 was now a NREX lease unit on its way to an un-named industry in the Houston area. So far the second 2009 has been working out well for the FWWR.
By KenFL9 | Published:
February 19, 2010
Saturday February 13th was bright and sunny in contrast to the snow storm only two days earlier. My wife along with my older stepson and his girlfriend went to lunch just after noon in downtown Fort Worth. I had been give a heads up that the MP heritage SD70Ace would be leaving around 2:00pm on the MFWEC, so I made sure I had my camera in the SUV. After we finished eating I started a slow roll back towards Benbrook via Davidson Yard, but almost immediately saw the cars of a manifest train coming up the grade towards Tower 55. The power had already gone by and any view of it was blocked by the I30 overpasses, but I had a feeling and turned back towards Tower 55.
My wife noticed the change in course immediately, but I said they were being kidnapped so just keep up the conversation and they would be released soon. Sure enough when we caught up to the head end stopped under I30 just west of the tower the lead unit was the UP 1982. I drove on to the southwest corner of the Barnhart Wye and had my three passengers remain in the SUV while I put on my PPE. Listening to the UP terminal dispatcher we learned that Amtrak 22 would be arriving from Cleburne in a few minutes and the MFWEC would be allowed to go south after that and ahead of Amtrak 21 departing for Cleburne. Sure enough less than five minutes later a nice K5LA preceeded the arrival of number 22 with P42 89 doing the honors.
I took another shot after the rear end cleared the view of Tower 55.
I joined the conversation in the SUV until a few more minutes passed, and then photographed the UP 1982 coming around the corner in perfect light on its way to Ney Yard. The engineer spied the females in the Pilot and gave a number of short blasts on the K5LAA as he and the conductor waved.
Just as soon as the last car cleared the switch to the BNSF mainline behind me the points threw and Amtrak 21 got the signal to proceed.
P42 number 97 was leading the southbound Texas Eagle on this trip.
The excitement done for now, so I took my gear off and put us back on course for home. My wife and the others were pleasantly surprised that they had a good time watching trains since I kept it brief and did not obsess……
By KenFL9 | Published:
February 17, 2010
Leaving the west end of Davidson Yard I passed an autorack/intermodal train in the new bypass and a MFWWC in the yard getting ready to head out on the Baird Sub. The ZLAMN was eastbound between Preble and Weatherford, so either westbound train should have had time to make the siding at Iona, but the dispatcher was justifiably afraid the switches there would be snowed in and the “Z” train delayed. I drove to the cut in Boaz Park and set up to wait as a light snow continued to fall on my jacket’s hood. Before long the nearby westbound signal suddenly came to life with a red indication. Minutes later a glow appeared in the evening gloom, and quickly the UP 8370’s headlights outlined the snow falling in front of them as the ZLAMN bore down on me.
A quick zoom back to 24mm netted me this winter scene as the conductor gave a wave from his position of warmth.
Several UPS trailers that contibuted to this train having a “Z” rating flashed by.
Many more stacks silently rolled by and then two more engines rumbled past me in DPU mode.
Darkness was about to envelope me here at the cut, and unfortunately listening to the radio the two westbound trains had waited long enough that now the switches were going to have to be cleaned out again before they could leave. The best snow day I can remember in Fort Worth since Valentine’s Day in 2004 was done.
By KenFL9 | Published:
February 16, 2010
It took me about 30 minutes to drive from Eighth Avenue to the Crest Tower in Davidson Yard, and I took the elevator and stairs to the top where I was greeted by a totally different view of the facility. The managers on duty told me about the problems of snowed in switches that led to outlawed crews everywhere and only a handful of vans to swap them out. I did not envy them one bit, so leaving them to their tasks I turned my attention to these views of the yard and hump.
After these photos I made my way back down to ground level for a few more shots at both ends of the yard.
The resources available to me in the tower had indicated that the two trains in the final photo would be trying to go west on the Baird Sub soon and a “Z” train was inbound within the hour, so I decided to finish up the day at my favorite cut in Boaz Park.
