Western Railroad Discussion > When it rains, it pours

I received a headsup from SP8595 about a CSXT unit leading the ZLDYC today NB on the UP Austin Sub. I ended up catching not 1, not 2 but 3 trains with "yellow and blue" units. Three NS units, a UP SD40-2, some Dash-9's and another UP SD70AH made the day pretty sweet.

Shots were all taken just south of San Marcos, TX where Mains #1 and #2 parallel each other rather closely. The closest rail in all but the last shot is #2 which is the ex-Katy. #1 which is ex-MP is the farther one. UP through Central Texas is directional running with NB out of San Antonio coming up #2 to either Conrads or UP Jct. where they switch over to #1 to head to Austin, Taylor and points north. SB come off the Lockhart Sub (ex-Katy) at San Marcos and most often cross over to #1 at UP Jct. for the trip into San Antonio.

The first one through appeared to be an empty grain train with all EMD power.

1. SD70ACe 8319 leading the train past
2. Broadside of a UP "Heavy"
3. Going away shot to emphasize how nice those new units really look

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Next one was the 28 Local which had come south from Texas Lehigh in Buda to the small ex-MKT yard at Jama with some empty center beam flats and coal hoppers and several cement loads. Power was an SD40-2 and SD40-N.

Finally the ZLDYC came through with CSXT 7705 and UP 6848.

4. So nice to see an SD40-2 again. Not too common down here, at least in my experience
5. Sky was starting to cloud a bit and only got worse but I bagged my "quarry"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/15 16:14 by PALuvR.

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Then came a SB loaded grain train with my second CSXT unit of the day

6. UP 7203 is starting to show her age
7. A better shot of CSXT 170
8. And along comes the DPU



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/15 16:12 by PALuvR.

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Hang it there - only 4 more

A NB on Main 2 sort of sneaked up on me. Rock loads from Ogden? with a C44ACCTE leader followed by UP 6919 (ex-UP C60AC 7532), SPatch 6213 and C44AC 6204 (another ex-SP unit). Then another SB off the Lockhart Sub with 3 NS units and my third CSXT of the day.

9. Long heavy rocktrain NB with about 100 cars (I ran out of fingers and toes) in poor sun
10. Manifest off the Lockhart Sub with no yellow in sight and a standard cab running 2nd
11. Better shot of the CSXT SD50-2



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/15 16:13 by PALuvR.

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Last one was a SB empty Cemex hopper train hauled by a pair of Dash-9's

Sorry for being so long-winded. I just couldn't figure out when to quit. Guess you can tell I was pretty excited. Haven't been more than 8 miles from home in months. I appreciate y'all hanging in there with me.

Mike

12. The Cemex plant is about 17 miles further south so they are getting close

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Excellent stuff Mike, keep it coming.

SP7615

Sweet shots, I always enjoy your posts. Looks like you also got one of the few ex-SP SD70M's on your first train.

Some nice catches out there today Mike! Good to see the SD40-2, UP 3148 still running around with its original number.

UP 8319: GM9GDM-30 (Grain-Eagle Pass, TX-Hull Ave. Yard, IA) Empty Grain train

UP 3148: LAF28-30 The San Marcos Traveling Switch engine

CSXT 7705: ZLDYC-30 (Premium Intermodal-Laredo-Yard Center)

UP 7203: GSFV2B-30 (Grain-Farnhamville, IA-Brownsville, TX) Loaded Grain train

UP 6020: RHTIP-30 (Rock-Hunter, TX-Industrial Park, TX) with 94 loads-13,149 tons. Industrial Park looks to be near Valley Jct.

NS 9394: MFWSA-29 (Manifest-Ft. Worth-San Antonio)

UP 9651: RDPDTC-29: (Rock-Dallerup, TX-Dittlinger, TX-Cement)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/15 17:05 by SP8595.

wesleygreer Wrote:
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> Sweet shots, I always enjoy your posts. Looks like
> you also got one of the few ex-SP SD70M's on your
> first train.


Glad you enjoy my posts. I also appreciate you noticing the ex-SP SD70M. I usually try to catch stuff like that but since there are only 11 of them and a zillion UP SD70M's, I don't often notice. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.

Mike

Cool pictures, thanks for sharing.

Looks like you hit a home run with all of the train traffic.

Pat
South Austin, TX

Great photos.

Ronda Thomas