Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF Action in Brenham Texas

A few weeks ago the Big Boy came to Houston, so my son and I chased it from Houston to College Station/Bryan.  On the way home, I decicded to go through Brenham.  Of course, any time I do that, I come down 36 Business to see what is going on with the BNSF in downtown Brenham.  When I got to the tracks I almost fell out of my car to see BNSF action, not on the main line, but on the old SP main through town (the old line from Houston to Austin) that has about a mile of track left!!  I had never seen a train on there before and wondered if it had any business it all.  It turns out it does.  I watched a pair of locomotives switch out 2 businesses along there.  The first business took a couple of box cars.  The second business was behind the Blue Bell factory, but I could not get back there easily to see that, and it was getting dark.  But a covered hopper seemed to have that business as its destination.  It was great to see that action.  It is a pretty rare move I imagine.  The only question is where does that job operate from?  We thought perhaps Somerville, but that was just guess.

I did take a few pictures.  

1. Switch job crosses the BNSF main after taking the sharp connecting curve to the old SP tracks
2. Crossing Business 36
3. Shot of the track here.  You can see why I would wonder if there is any business along here, and if this track could even support a train.

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4. The sets of box cars to be swapped
5. Locomotives pulling the cars out of the siding

I have some videos of this action as well, but it is in high definition format and won't upload properly here.  I need to do some editing to get it on to TO.

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