Yesterday was January 1st, the first day of 2024, while at the same time it was the last day of a 30-year career in railroading for UP engineer Gunny See. I had been wondering what the subject of my first train photos of 2024 would be, and Gunny’s last trip as an engineer on the MWTFW (Wichita, KS to Fort Worth, TX) filled the bill. I had been alerted yesterday morning by a friend of Gunny’s and made plans to catch the train at Saginaw and follow it the rest of the way to Davidson Yard until I could get a good picture of Gunny waving out his window.
Many local railfans were out for this train also, but for the reason it was led by UP 1988 the M-K-T Heritage Unit. When I arrived at Saginaw there was a big enough crowd at the old SP Kosse depot that I set up far enough south that none of them would be directly in my photo. Soon I heard the MWTFW call the BNSF dispatcher requesting to be lined through the interlocking, and at 2:46 pm I composed my first photo to include the Saginaw city sign.
I zoomed out for my second photo a few seconds later without any people in the way. So far Gunny had his window closed so no luck on my close-up photo here.
I beat the train to the 39th Street crossing where I photographed the two lead units running over the UP Duncan Sub with the BNSF Fort Worth Sub in the foreground.
It looks like UP 1988 was the victim of an engine fire not too long ago, defiling its heritage paint scheme.
The train had a straight shot all the way from Saginaw to Davidson Yard which made it hard to get ahead of again. I managed to get trackside again just west of the T&P TEXRail / TRE depot a few minutes ahead of its arrival. By this time, I had been able to ensure that Gunny would have his window open. I managed two good shots to accomplish my goal as the train rolled by.
I sent these to Gunny later in the evening and he was very pleased with them. First train of 2024 combined with the last run of a veteran engineer made for a great start to the year!
