FWWR delivers the final two cars of the first Stadler DMU train to Grapevine. The power car and the other two passenger cars were already in Grapevine after arriving by truck from their appearance at the American Public Transit Association expo in Atlanta last month. Here we see the short train just east of Davis Boulevard in North Richland Hills.
A few minutes later the train is passing Bransford Park and the display caboose in Colleyville.
In both photos you are looking at the concrete ties and 136-pound rail that are replacing the old jointed rails and wooden ties from Haltom City to Grapevine. I spent the morning and early afternoon in Grapevine documenting the unloading of these two cars. In the afternoon I drove to Primrose on the FWWR to catch the NS Wabash Heritage Unit leading an eastbound train.
Now using the speedy Chisholm Trail Parkway to my advantage I easily beat the train to Forest Park where I was joined by friend David Steckler for this late afternoon series.
From here I paced the train as it approached Tower 60 and when they called the BNSF dispatcher he told them they would have to wait at the interchange for Amtrak 822 to go north and a loaded coal train to pass by southbound before they could come out and run to the west pass at Saginaw. The head end of the train did not stop in a spot that would work for the next photo so I moved on ahead to the NE 29th Street crossing on the BNSF Fort Worth Sub where there was a patch of sun left for a few more minutes. Amtrak 822 had already passed by on its way to Oklahoma City and a few minutes later the southbound loaded coal the dispatcher had discussed made its appearance.
A few minutes later the crossing gates activated again, but instead of the loaded sand train I was expecting it turned out to be an empty BNSF coal train that had been waiting at Bredenberg south of Tower 60.
The two coal trains were OK but now the patch of sunlight I was counting on had disappeared into the increasing dusk as my target train arrived a few minutes later.
If no longer in direct sunlight at least the subject was now evenly lit. As the FWWR engineer started to notch out to run 8 for the climb up to Saginaw I drove on ahead to the NE 38th Street crossing.
