On July 30, 2023, I made another business trip to Kansas. After leaving the house I decided that instead of leaving Fort Worth on I35 North I would go up FM 156 to see what I might catch. My first stop at 11:16 am was at the north end of the Wabtec test track where I found a long line of NS units waiting to be rebuilt from the frame up.
Listening to the radio I gleaned that a northbound freight train was in the siding at Ponder while a southbound freight was in the siding at Metro with a CP leader; both waiting for Amtrak 821 to come through southbound. I set up just south of Ponder and Amtrak sped by at 11:42 am.
I dropped further south and at 12:14 pm I caught the southbound out of Metro that was close behind Amtrak.
Then northbound on I35 allowed me to get ahead of the train that had met Amtrak at Ponder and I composed this scene at 12:53 pm north of Valley View.
Now I needed to make some progress towards El Dorado, Kansas and I did not pull over for another photo until I was passing Perry, Oklahoma and recorded this southbound grain train led by a CN SD70M-2.
A CP and then a CN leader both on the same day in two different states was pretty good in my book.
I made a last road stop at 6:00 pm at South Haven, Kansas as I had heard some new units belonging to Blackwell Northern’s new owner Bruggere and Monson (BUGX) were stored here. In addition to the already long-term resident C&O SD18, I found two GP16’s and an ex-CN GMD-1. All were photographable except for one of the GP16’s.
I had decided to check out Blackwell on the way back home in a few days.
