Between the 14th and the 19th of October BNSF and Fort Worth & Western ran passenger specials for various railroad groups and charities by making round trips from the Fort Worth Stockyards to Cresson. I did not have the opportunity to ride the train this year, so here are my favorite track side shots from this year’s trips.
On Tuesday October 14th I caught the train eastbound in Forest Park on its return trip from Cresson.
The next evening of the 15th a shorter version of the special ran in the evening and I caught it a few minutes a few minutes before sunset westbound passing the east end of Primrose siding.
Thursday the 16th was Fort Worth & Western and BNSF invited guest day and the train ran with FWWR SD40-2M #2023 leading. I could not get to the Stockyards until the train had returned from its trip, so I waited until it was time to take the train back to Hodge Yard right after sunset. The crew was nice enough to stop the train where I desired for a few minutes so I could get this shot.
A few minutes later as the train was stretched out over the Marine Creek bridge waiting to get through Tower 60 I captured this view with the sunset clouds.
The train did not run on Friday 17th, but I was back out Saturday afternoon and caught these two views. The first is of the westbound move passing milepost 16 just west of Mustang Creek. In the second photo the train is backing around the Cleburne Wye at Cresson for the return trip as two FWWR crew men ride the front of the lead unit.
Sunday the 19th was the final day, and the train made two round trips to Cresson. Here in the first pair of photos the 1:00 pm trip is passing westbound through Forest Park.
The final set of photos is from the 5:00 pm trip where I first caught the westbound train just west of Mustang Creek.
I drove on ahead to Cresson and caught the train coming around the curve on the mainline next to the lumber yard.
The final pair of photos show the train coming around the Cleburne leg of the Wye right at sunset and heading back to Fort Worth with everyone in the Glacier View on the rear end paying more attention to their phones than the scenery.
Now I need to come up with different locations for next year!
