I returned to Purina Junction on May 13th, 2025 to capture a special move. Due to UP trackwork east of Dallas, on certain days Amtrak 21 would run from Chicago south to St. Louis where the train would be turned to return to Chicago as Train 22. Down our way Amtrak 22 was running north from San Antonio to Fort Worth where the equipment would be turned to run back south to San Antonio as Train 21.
I wanted to use the drone to capture this turning move at Purina Junction. I arrived there in plenty of time to capture a few TEXRail and TRE movements close by.
At 3:11 pm my goal came into view out from under the UP Choctaw Sub main lines. The left leg of the switch leads to Dallas while the right leg the train is taking curves off to the north towards the Purina Mills grain elevators.
In this shot the train continues to curve north to pass through the middle of Purina Mills.
Next I flew the drone ahead to the north side of the complex where the train will come to a stop once the conductor on the rear car tells the engineer they are clear of the switch at the south end.
The TRE/TEXRail dispatcher quickly relined the switch so the train could back up to the east and move onto the TRE line to Dallas. I had to fly quickly from the last photo location to this spot to catch these two views of the reverse move.
This final view shows the head end back at the switch where they started the reverse move as the train accelerates back up the grade to Central Station.
Total elapsed time to make the complete move? Twelve minutes.
