The previous day while flying the drone I had noticed a large body of water next to the UP Baird Sub just west of Aledo. It was bordered by homes and trees so I had not seen it before from the street. I got back out in the afternoon on Sunday May 5, 2025 to see what I could do with the drone. First up was the ZAILA again with a NS leader except this time it passed by at 1:53pm and the sun was now in the west for a perfectly lit drone photo.
The radio let me know there was a westbound manifest freight behind the ZAILA and I drove as close as possible to the pond before launching the drone again at 2:19 pm. Now I could see it was an old quarry filled with water. This time I was not as lucky as the sun disappeared behind a cloud exactly at the wrong moment.
At least this scene is close to home so I will have ample opportunities to recreate it with full sun. There had been an eastbound train in the siding at Iona, so I decided to check it out. I arrived at the east switch at Iona just before another westbound arrived at 2:36 pm. I jumped out for this shot with seconds to spare.
At 3:05 pm the dispatcher called the eastbound train on the radio and told them Davidson was now ready to yard them. It was obvious the lead unit had been parked somewhere long enough to be tagged.
I decided to hang out at East Iona for a while, and by 4:30 pm two more eastbound trains had arrived and were waiting for the dispatcher to decide which train he wanted first in Fort Worth. I launched the drone for this view of them both stopped and then needed to head back home less than 10 minutes away.
Living this close to a busy main line has its advantages!