Western Railroad Discussion > O Train photo op at the 'Creek'

I was able to piece together accurate information from multiple tips & messages. A drive of just over 2 hours from Manhattan put me at SW 14th St in Newton, KS. I was in place to shoot BNSF’s current ‘biggie’ officer’s train, the O ALTDEN coming up from Wichita. I would wait less than 15 minutes for the train. In fact I was replying to Ronda Thomas’ thread where she posted photos of this same train down in Oklahoma. I had to quickly cut my cell-phone response short because I heard the horn of the approaching train. The O train appeared on cue and glided over 14th St, then stopped as if spotting the rear car just for my camera. What a nice gesture! (As if… ;^) But I sure do wish Mr. Sol hadn’t been hiding behind the clouds…

After the shots at Sand Creek I skedaddled right over to Halstead, KS for another shot, this time with fellow KS Gangster Bob Helling (the retired “PRose”) who just happened to be in town visiting his ‘lady friend’. We got our shots & parted ways. I posted an OS here on TO and drove over to Hutchinson, KS for a nice lunch with local railfans Lynn Aldrich & Gary Banz and another gentleman whose name now escapes me. I had called Lynn to give him the Halstead OS. My original plan was seek out a spot in Hutch to take my second round of shots. But I chickened out and went for Halstead, which I was a lot more sure of.

After lunch the sun made an appearance so I boogied back east, straight over to the Flint Hills and poked my camera around the transcon until the weather again crapped out. I’ll have several photos to post tomorrow, but here’s the O train from astern for now…

1. BNSF car 32, “William Barstow Strong” stopped at 14th St in Newton, KS. The train is being routed into Sand Creek Yard for a crew change & a departure to the west.

Thanks for spotting the W. B. Strong!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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Nice shot. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of your photos.

Ronda Thomas