Blog

Thursday April 1st found me around Fort Worth taking pictures for a client. By chance I was photographing street scenes along east Lancaster Avenue from the small railroad-themed park in the Handley neighborhood of east Fort Worth when UP’s “ZAILC” Atlanta to Los Angeles train roared by westbound.

The scene was backlit but a little work in Lightroom made it presentable. This was my only train photo on April Fools Day but I made up for that on Friday April 2nd. I knew that Norfolk Southern 1066, their New York Central heritage locomotive was at BNSF Alliance Yard, and contacts let me know if would leave around 2:30 pm as the third of three units on a manifest train headed to Amarillo. I drove up to the crossing just south of Alliance Yard at 2:00 pm and immediately caught this southbound loaded grain train with two up front and one DPU on the rear.

Fifteen minutes later a northbound Clovis to Alliance intermodal train off the Wichita Falls Sub passed by heading up the lead to the intermodal facility.

At 2:33 pm the target train headed south out of Alliance Yard just as the full sun disappeared behind increasing clouds. I still managed a good sequence culminating with the NS 1066.

The train would head south on the Fort Worth Sub to Saginaw where it would go around the connector to head northwest on the Wichita Falls Sub. It was taking the long way around while I took the short cut west on Avondale-Haslet Road and made my way to the north switch of Avondale siding. There was a grain train in the siding at Avondale and a few minutes later the Amarillo bound manifest pulled up the main line and stopped in the clear.

The loaded grain train now left the siding and headed south to Saginaw. The manifest on the main held its position and in a few minutes a loaded coal train arrived and pulled into the siding to take the place of the grain train.

As soon as the loaded coal was in the clear the manifest train received a green signal to leave and go to Herman to meet an eastbound “Z” train. I found a spot to get as far off to the side as possible for the best view of the other side of the NS 1066.

I followed in the wake of the manifest train, and after checking out Rhome for a well composed view I ended up at the Pioneer Road crossing north of town where I caught the “Z” train a few minutes later.

The second unit turned out to be one of the remaining warbonnets.

On the way back to the house I encountered an eastbound UP intermodal train at the spot where the siding at Iona on the Baird Sub used to end before it was extended. I used the 100 – 400 lens to reach under the high voltage power lines here and eliminate them from the photo as the train curved upgrade towards me.

This was a good end to the week only a few miles from home.