Western Railroad Discussion > UP officers special at sunrise in Texas

I really wanted to sleep in Thursday morning, but the prospect of a UP business train west of Fort Worth on the Baird Sub a few miles from the house was too tempting to pass up.  The downside was the train with UP and KCS and NS officials on board to discuss intermodal service between Atlanta and LA would leave Fort Worth at 6:00am, meaning I would have to drive about 40 miles west to catch it around sunrise.  One good shot before the back lit sun got too high would do as I did not want to spend the day chasing it further west waiting for perfect light on the nose.

I left the house at straight up 6:00 am and a few minutes later as I approached the main line at Iona, TX I saw a westbound headlight emerge from behind a hill about a mile away.  A row of twinkling lights along the side of the train indicated this was my target.  I covered the remaining three miles to Aledo, TX where I was first in line as the gates came down at the main crossing.  UP 2718 and 9002 flashed by followed by a blurred row of lighted windows with the track lights of the occupied theater car bringing up the rear.  I had meant to be through here ahead of the train but I was not worried as Interstate 20 west takes the more direct route west while the tracks wander a bit.  I made it to Judd, TX where I20 and the Baird Sub come together and UP has a passing siding.  There is a lot of open space here on the outside of a broad sweeping curve as westbound trains approach the east end of the siding.  Fifteen minutes later as the sun was just breaking the southeast horizon the train flashed by doing better than 60 mph.

 

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The next three shots in the sequence.

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There was an eastbound light power movement waiting in the siding and its lead unit was perfectly lit by the rising sun as it accelerated out of the siding.  Too bad the special was not also eastbound.

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Great photos.

Ronda Thomas

Beautiful shots!
Glad you got up early for them.
Gary

Posted from Android

oklachaser Wrote:
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> Great photos.
>
> Ronda Thomas

What she said. :-)

Here is the video I took at the same time as the still photos.  The scene looks very isolated but I20 is only 100 yards away in the background as you unfortunately can hear all too well.

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Great early morning efforts and shots.
Brian Stevens

Does anyone know what the inside of these cars look like? Any photos on the internet?

Thank you for waking up early and getting the photos/video

Posted from iPhone

Try this link.  Awesome cars.

https://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/historical_equipment/index.htm

What is the schedule for this train on Saturday and Sunday?

The last car is the inspection car "Idaho".  Here is a link to the information on it:

https://www.up.com/cs/groups/public/documents/up_pdf_nativedocs/pdf_idaho.pdf

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/17 11:53 by kenfl9.

Ken, I know exactly where you were.  That Panama Flat road crossing the track would take you back to Santo Tx withthe road t  being right beside the track the whole way.

You are 100% correct Tom!