When I say two groups of three, I mean on August 11th in 2022 while returning home from Kansas on a business trip, I managed to photograph the same BNSF “Z” train in three different locations and caught three units still in their original red warbonnet paint. I started out early that sunny morning from El Dorado, Kansas and managed to get ahead of the BNSF’s ZWSPALT coming down the Douglas Subdivision after exiting the Southern Transcon at Augusta. When I reached the north side of Winfield, Kansas I spotted this South Kansas & Oklahoma GP38 parked near their office.
Driving to the south side of Winfield, I pulled over at the highway bridge over the Walnut River and while I waited for the “Z” train to catch up, I spotted a barely visible reminder of the heritage of this line.
A few minutes later I framed up my photo as the fast train passed over the Walnut River.
I heard on the radio the “Z” train would be meeting a northbound train a few miles south at Hackney, Kansas and that the northbound was led by a Dash 9-44CW number 764 still wearing its original as-delivered 26-year-old red warbonnet paint scheme. I set up at a grade crossing about halfway between Winfield and Hackney where the light was good for north bounds.
Knowing the “Z” train runs with a Kansas City to Oklahoma City crew and would not stop in Arkansas City, I did not expect to see it again as it was already a few miles ahead of me. As fate would have it, the train was delayed by a slow order and I beat it to Newkirk, Oklahoma for my second time to catch it this day.
I decided to head west over to I35 to make better time south bound towards home, and as I passed through Blackwell I paused for a few minutes to check out the ex-AT&SF branch line now operated as the Blackwell Northern. The old AT&SF depot and 2-6-2 “Prairie” number 1096 (or “I” 096 if my eyes are correct) were both in a continuing state of decline.
On the west side of town, GP30 number 815 originally delivered as a CNW unit was shut down awaiting its next assignment.
I made good time on I35 South, and my next stop was at Pauls Valley for fuel and food before heading over to the depot area. The radio informed me a northbound “Z” train was holding the main at the Pauls Valey siding south of town to meet a southbound merchandise out of Paoli. I set up just south of the depot to catch this view with the station name just barely visible.
As the southbound rolled by, I repositioned to the north end of the depot area to set up for a photo of the approaching “Z” train passing 2-8-0 Consolidation number 1951 on display.
After this “old vs. new” contrasting photo, I drove on south down US 77 to Davis for my next set of photos. The BNSF 7204 South had met the northbound “Z” train at Paoli, and now the 7204 South leading a QCHIALT intermodal train took the siding here at Davis to meet the BNSF 6600 North which was holding the main.
The BNSF 6600 North had some interesting units in trailing position in the form of C44-9W number 1024 in “H1” paint followed by Dash 9-44CW’s numbers 629 and 667 still wearing their as-delivered red warbonnet paint.
BNSF 6600 North left Davis on the main line to go to Wynnewood to meet guess what……the BNSF 7255 South ZWSPALT which had now caught up to me one final time after a crew change in Oklahoma City. The “Z” train held the main at Davis to meet yet another northbound, the BNSF 5995 leading an auto rack train through the siding.
With two meets here at Davis on my memory card, I got back on I35 South as far as Texas FM 156 south of Sanger where I decided to parallel the Fort Worth Sub and make a try for a photo of the northbound Amtrak Heartland Flyer. I stopped in Ponder where I composed this scene with the city water tower after a ten-minute wait for train number 822 to race by me.
My last photo for the day turned out to be a northbound coming out of Lambert into Justin with foreign power in the form of two soon to be rare KCS units in light of the CPKC merger.
Looking back on the day I unintentionally managed to catch the ZWSPALT train once in Kansas and twice in Oklahoma for a total of three times, matching the recording of three red warbonnet units also in Kansas and Oklahoma. This was one of my most photographically productive days in a long time, and I still got home at a reasonable hour after a 400 plus mile drive.
