Wednesday July 6th of 2022 I received intel that a northbound UP freight on their Fort Worth Sub had just left Waco heading to Fort Worth with the UP’s Chicago NorthWestern heritage locomotive number 1995 on the point. The evening light was perfect for a northbound train, so after a phone call I picked up my young railfan friend Luke Meacham and headed towards Alvarado. With evening shadows starting to appear we needed to find a location where the 1995 would still be in full sun for the best photos.
From past experience I decided to check out the County Road 319 grade crossing just north of where the BNSF Venus Sub crosses the UP Fort Worth Sub. We arrived there about 6:45 pm and the light was perfect. Luke and I tramped down some tall weeds that partially blocked the view, and then at 7:03 pm the train zipped past our location. Using shutter priority set at 1/1000 of a second, I managed three photos that I am very pleased with.
Pleased with our results here, we decided not to try to chase this train any further and started back towards home. Passing through Cleburne on Highway 171 we overtook a FWWR switch job heading west from the end of track towards their Windmill Yard.
I remembered one of my list of unachieved photos was of a FWWR train passing the Cleburne water tower next to the Chisolm Trail Toll Road. We sped on ahead and got into position a few seconds before the train caught up to us.
Cross this shot off my list and add a wave from Conductor Stevan Rojas!
