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After I was up and about Monday morning, I learned that instead of heading south from Fort Worth overnight the vehicle train led by BNSF 5872 was just getting ready to leave Alliance Yard. As the overcast skies outside were starting to clear, I changed my plans for the day and left the house a little before 10:00 am to head over to the Fort Worth Sub. The Chisholm Trail Turnpike allowed me to make a fast run to Cleburne where with about two minutes to spare I caught this southbound loaded grain train at Midway on the north side of town at 10:37 am.

The vehicle train led by BNSF 5872 was still in Fort Worth, so I decided to drive up to Joshua to catch it in a more scenic location. At 11:30 am I was rewarded with this well-lit sequence of the other side of this anniversary unit.

While waiting for this train I had seen on social media that Amtrak 22 had their heritage engine 156 leading this day so I decided to follow the 5872 to see what might develop in the way of a meet. I paced the train through Cleburne thinking it would meet Amtrak 22 at Rio Vista or Blum; and I decided to go to Blum as I once again wanted a less urban background.

I heard a northbound take the siding at Kopperl to let Amtrak overtake it, so I set up at the grade crossing in the middle of the Blum siding. The southbound vehicle train was taking the siding at Rio Vista. At 12:54 pm, Train 22 flashed past milepost 304 at 79 mph with the 156 leading in a patch of sun surrounded by increasing clouds.

The southbound shot here was too head on for what I wanted, so I drove to the crossing at the north end of the Blum siding for a better side view. at 1:13 pm I caught the 5872 South one more time just before it passed the north switch at Blum holding the main for a meet with the northbound that had been at Kopperl. I really lucked out here as I had been standing in a cloud shadow that cleared this scene just seconds before the train arrived.

Minutes later the BNSF 7770 North rolled out of the Blum siding with a manifest train in tow.

I heard on the radio this train was going to take the siding again at Rio Vista to meet a southbound freight so I decided to hold my position. BNSF 5802 South came past me at 1:56 pm.

An extra special treat for the day was in the middle of the engine consist in the form of Dash 9-44CW number 967 in heritage one paint.

Now that it was 2:00 pm on a day that I had originally planned to work at home, I decided to start heading back north and maybe finish up the day with a well-lit photo of Amtrak 21 coming south. I checked their website and saw that Train 21 was indeed in Fort Worth expected to depart on time at 2:10 pm.

From what I could hear on the radio Train 21 was delayed a few minutes leaving town and the BNSF 7770 North I had already caught was taking the siding at Joshua to meet it. Traffic was in my favor and I made it to Joshua just as I heard the detector south of Crowley sound it’s all clear. I was ready as Train 21 with P42 number 75 leading shot past the north end of Joshua.

I was not sure until I checked the viewfinder afterwards, but a quick twist on the zoom ring yielded a second photo of this fast mover.

The going away photo was not ideal but since there was a northbound in the siding I took it anyway.

With no other immediate southbounds to take advantage of the afternoon light, I headed on home from here. Not a bad day having now captured both sides of the BNSF 5872 in good light; and also something else that may soon be rare here — two Amtrak trains on the same day since next month in theory Trains 21 and 22 will no longer run daily due to budget cuts.