By KenFL9 | Published:
August 10, 2010
On Sunday August 1st I needed to transfer some items to Troy Minnick, so we agreed to meet in Saginaw after noon at the diamonds. I arrived in town just in time to catch the southbound Heartland Flyer at the crossing just north of the BSNF yard office. Today was a special treat as the lead unit was P42 class engine number one, marking the first time I have ever caught this unit.
I met up with Troy and we visited in the oppressive heat for a few minutes and then went our separate ways after determining no other trains were close by. While taking Loop 820 back around to highway 377 I heard Davidson Yard talking to the ZAILC about changing crews at the west end of the yard. Since Aledo is now more or less on the way home I headed that way and set up under a shade tree in the park behind city hall. I only had to wait less than ten minutes before I captured this all NS lashup on the point with the 7673 leading.
Even the single DPU this day was a Norfolk Southern unit.
I took care of some work at the house, and late in the afternoon as the sun started to come down in the west I decided to make a loop to Crowley then down to Cleburne to photograph the FWWR’s new industrial park and then back home via Cresson. Heading east on FM 1187 I managed to arrive in Crowley just as a northbound BNSF empty grain with a Ferromex GE in the lashup was pulling into the siding.
The empty grain train met a loaded coal train with two aging SD70MAC’s up front.
I followed the loaded coal train down to Joshua where another northbound train was waiting in the siding. I set up at the first crossing north of downtown Joshua for this shot of the BNSF 5099 North.
As I drove on south to Cleburne it sounded like the next northbound was still south of the Brazos River, so I headed northwest on highway 171 toward the FWWR’s new industrial park on the outskirts of town.
By KenFL9 | Published:
August 4, 2010
I had a photographic dry spell from Thursday July 15th returning from Sweetwater until Saturday July 24th late in the day when I spent 2 1/2 hours next to the Baird Sub. I had been informed the MODFW train was coming east late in the afternoon with a KCS Retro Belle on the point, and I left the house a little after 4:30pm to see if I could catch it coming through nearby Aledo. I was planning to drive directly to Aledo but then I heard a meet about to happen at Iona, and as luck would have it no one was using the their train or engine number on the radio. Not knowing if the eastbound was the MODFW or not, I headed north to Benbrook and then west along the Baird Sub, sacrificing a potential shot of the better lit westbound train. The eastbound was just about to leave the siding at Iona when I arrived at the east switch, and it turned out to be an intermodal train with only the UP 7876 up front.
Only a single unit was on the rear too, the UP 7858.
The westbound train was long gone, so I drove to Aledo and parked under a shade tree on the west side of the town hall park. I monitored the radio while I caught up on my reading, but there was no word about the MODFW. After an hour my solitude was interrupted by the UP 6709 West with two other units and a manifest train.
On the rear a UP and another NS engine were idling in DPU mode.
Still nothing was heard regarding the MODFW, and I was about to give up when I heard a faint transmission from a westbound leaving Fort Worth that I thought had identified itself as the “BNSF something 455″. Thinking this might be a currently infrequent BNSF trackage rights train I hung out until 7:31pm when it turned out to be the NS 8455 West with a solid black lashup and another manifest train in tow.
The light was about gone now, and then I finally heard the MODFW was between Preble and Weatherford, putting it at my location well after dark. I decided to settle for the three trains I had caught and let the brass ring go for this day as I headed on back to the house.
By KenFL9 | Published:
August 2, 2010
After seeing Troy and Judy off on their return to Fort Worth shepherding the U-Haul truck, I parked by the foundation of the old T&P depot next to the Baird Sub east of the depot around 11:00am and relaxed while I read a book and waited for my phone to ring with a time for the closing. Nearly an hour passed with no UP trains, but then I heard an eastbound BNSF train talking to their depot, telling the outbound crew what supplies they would need. I used the advance warning to liesurely drive to the crossing at the west end of BNSF’s Tecific siding. The curve here was well lit, and just before noon I was rewarded with this shot of the BNSF 7318 East leading a stack train from the west coast to Houston. The UP Baird Sub is only about 100 feet to the right behind the trees at this location.
Clouds were beginning to roll in, driven by storms up around Lubbock to the northwest. I drove back into town and parked at the crossing where Troy and I had shot the UP sign earlier. At 1:55pm my phone rang that I could come on down to the title company where they were now ready for the closing. Two minutes later before I drove away I got this eastbound merchandise train with the sign in the photo.
With the UP train blocking the crossing, my only route to the title company took me over the BNSF / T&O tracks going to Maryneal. From an earlier phone conversation with my friends the T&O crew I knew they would be leaving town right about now, and sure enough three minutes after photographing the UP train I skidded to a stop and got SD9’s 6183 and 1733 heading south at milepost three.
A quick highball to them on the radio and I was at the tile office by 2:10pm. After all the official business was done I caught one more train in Sweetwater as I once again used the T&P historical marker as a prop with the UP 7778 West at 3:19pm.
No other trains were easy catches on the Baird Sub that afternoon, so the rest of my drive home was uneventful as closure on the past week of ending an era of the Fitzgerald’s owning land around Sweetwater.
By KenFL9 | Published:
July 31, 2010
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.
