FL9

Yesterday about 4:30pm I called Hodge Yard to see what might be running in the low afternoon light, and got an answer that would coax me out into the 100 degree heat.  The MTO needed to clear out some room, so it was decided to build a Tolar Turn with more than 60 cars and power and have the 202 afternoon switch job take the train to Eighth Avenue and tie it down for the night.  A new crew would be called this morning to take the train on west.  I had been wanting to photograph a westbound train in the afternoon from the Lancaster Avenue overpass with the Fort Worth skyline in the background, so this was my chance.  I was in position with time to spare when the 202 job crew got the signal at Tower 60 around 5:45pm, and fifteen minutes later I got the shot I had desired.

I zoomed in on the 2017 for a close-up view of this ex-SP SD40R just before the engine ducked under the overpass.

The third unit is the latest lease unit obtained from NRE, SD40-2 3252 that was retired by the UP in September of last year.

Pleased with my single catch for the day, I headed back home to compose this post for Sunday morning.

With my morning time starting to run short, I followed the BNSF 7525 South as it left South Haslet.  I drove on ahead and positioned myself on the Highway 287 overpass for this shot as the train passed the real Lake Wanda.  It actually looks more like a pond these days as it is increasingly surrounded by new housing developments.

(Read on …)

I heard BNSF DS22 talking to the southbound RoadRailer with NS power around Justin, so thinking of a shot with NS “ponies” and live horses I decided to see if I could get closer to the small herd seen in the first photo of yesterday’s blog post.  That turned out to be a relatively simple task by driving through and out the back of a church parking lot, and I quickly found myself broadside to the tracks at the new signal bridge at South Haslet.  At first the horses were curious to see if I had brought them a snack, and two of them were right up to the fence in front of me as a light engine movement out of Saginaw came by with a faded warbonnet leading.

(Read on …)

The big grain train went south to Lake Wanda where it met a northbound merchandise train bound for Alliance Yard.  I moved my camera location to the Highway 156 overpass for this view as the BNSF 5075 North swept around the curve to the yard while horses grazed and a crew van pulled up to the old main line.

I turned around to look north and caught sight of a southbound autorack train moving towards me in the Haslet siding.  I ran across the road in time for this view of the BNSF 7525 South about to pass underneath me as the merchandise train retreated towards the yard in the background.

The arrival of the crew van in the first photo now made sense as the autorack train stopped under the bridge and the engineer and conductor left in the van after tying the train down.