On July 15th, 2026 Union Pacific graced us with another photo opportunity with their Veteran’s Unit 1943 pulling a business car special. The train was coming westbound out of Dallas with plans to turn north at Tower 55. Along with friends Dakota Miller and Luke Meacham we found a suitable location on the east side of Fort Worth on the UP Dallas Sub. At 11:05 am we caught a westbound bare table train on Main Two with a Wabtec rebuilt unit leading.
Six minutes later at 11:11 am our target train rolled by on Main One with a friendly conductor.
Now we decided to catch the train one more time with better background scenery at Argyle on the Fort Worth Sub. Thinking the special would change crews at Tower 55 and quickly head north, we wasted no time in getting there and finding our spot at the north end of town. Little did we know what the dispatcher had in mind as in the end we could have walked to Argyle and still beat the train there. We sat and sat until 12:57 pm when the drought was broken by a southbound loaded coal train.
The radio alerted us to multiple southbound trains coming our way in a fleet, and while we hoped they would take the sidings at Hodge, Roanoke, Argyle and Mingo for the northbound passenger train, that wish was not granted. We moved south to the north end of Argyle siding where a second loaded coal with a friendly conductor rolled by at 1:28 pm.
We drove across Highway 377 to a convenience store for snacks but were back in place for the southbound local returning to Roanoke with three Little Rock rebuilt SD40N’s for power. At least this train would be clearing up at Roanoke.
We moved back to our chosen spot thinking the third train had to be the charm, but once again the radio gave us the bad news that the special was going to Roanoke for a fourth and final southbound. After more than an hour had passed, I did not put much effort into this third loaded coal train photo other than getting out of the car at 2:34 pm.
Forty-six more minutes ticked by, and at 3:20 pm we finally got our “money shot” of the two locomotive, twelve-car train in a more scenic location than downtown Fort Worth.
Nearly three and one-half hours of patience for one photo. The definition of railfanning for this day and probably more to come. That and more than 50,000 tons of coal to boot!
