Hi,
We went to Old Town Spring (Tx) last evening for dinner, and drove alongside the UP yard (formerly Mopac) that runs north/south alongside the town with the north end going to north Texas and mid Texas, and the south going to Houston.
Of course I've seen all kinds of locos representing (mostly) the roads that UP absorbed, but last evening there were two large BNSF diesels (didn't get the type, it was dark and they were unexpected) sitting at the head of a car carrier train. I suspect they were "fixin" to unload at the auto depot south of the yard. This is a first sighting for me of BNSF on these tracks, and I wonder what it was doing there. Any ideas???
Kind of ironic..... when I have my camera with me I hardly ever see RR stuff worth capturing, but when I leave it at home, there is always something notable or different. Ha, a year or two ago the UP Challenger with a long passenger consist came down from College Station and everybody in the area was ready with their cameras - except me.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Dan
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
This could be either one of a couple things- first, the BNSF has trackage rights on the UP through Spring on the Palestine Sub.- they run a pair of freights, an occasional empty autorack train (Pearland-Birmingham, AL), and empty grain trains on the line. These trains are all northbounds though- as the southbounds run via Humble on the ex-SP Rabbit line into Houston.
In addition to that BNSF power does occasionally turn up on the UP trains through Spring too- it has been increasingly more common to see BNSF units on the autorack trains into Westfield. The last few weeks I've seen 3 seperate rack trains with BNSF units (although NS and CN are more common for foreign visitors.)
Thanks for the info, it is appreciated!
I have lived "down here" since 1981 and visited the yard and took many pictures over the years. But, as I wrote earlier, this is the first BNSF locos I have seen. I'm a confirmed Santa Fe "nut" and frankly was surprised that they would even associate with the UP. Obviously I'm wrong about that, and they are not strangers here.
Ha, I guess timing is everything!
mobilman44 wrote: Kind of ironic..... when I have my camera with me I hardly ever see RR stuff worth capturing, but when I leave it at home, there is always something notable or different. Ha, a year or two ago the UP Challenger with a long passenger consist came down from College Station and everybody in the area was ready with their cameras - except me.
Hey I feel the same way lots of times ... sometimes when I have my video camera along I see hardly any trains ... then on that day when we just go down to the station and see Amtrak because we happened to be in town at the time it went through, it comes...and a bunch of freight trains, too.
Maybe the moral of the story is to bring your camera everywhere you go?
SchemerBob wrote: mobilman44 wrote: Kind of ironic..... when I have my camera with me I hardly ever see RR stuff worth capturing, but when I leave it at home, there is always something notable or different. Ha, a year or two ago the UP Challenger with a long passenger consist came down from College Station and everybody in the area was ready with their cameras - except me. Hey I feel the same way lots of times ... sometimes when I have my video camera along I see hardly any trains ... then on that day when we just go down to the station and see Amtrak because we happened to be in town at the time it went through, it comes...and a bunch of freight trains, too. Maybe the moral of the story is to bring your camera everywhere you go?
That's what I do. I found a less expensive digital to keep in the truck or handy wherever I go. it's paid off a couple of times.
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