Western Railroad Discussion > TexRail-fanning - FWWR Edition

More from a couple of rides on Texrail over a couple of days.  For those not in the know, Texrail is a commuter service that runs on the former Cotton Belt between downtown Ft. Worth and Grapevine, TX, with a new spur heading into DFW Airport.

1st scene: EB going over FWWR's Hodge Yard in North Ft. Worth; the three unit train being built is likely the Evermann Turn.  Train runs from Hodge to the northeast connector track at Tower 55, crosses UP's E-W Dallas Sub mains and then goes south on the Evermann branch which diverges from the Ginnie Yard.  If you ever watch the T55 cam on Youtube, you can see this train on the far side of the interlocker regularly.

2nd scene: WB over Hodge Yard.  The first train is an I/C train from UP's Peach Yard that had just arrived.  There's a quick look at some of FWWR's newly painted SD60s, and a Soo SD60 waiting for it's turn into blue and yellow.  At the loco facility, another new acquisition waiting paint - a CIT locomotive.  Finally, the 4 SD40s are likely the head end of the outbound Cresson turn, that will leave in the afternoon.  The train will pick up a number of cars from the inbound UP I/C train.  The 4 SD40s MIGHT just be switching power; the Cresson has been featuring the SD60s lately, so FWWR may be phasing out the 40s for road use.  More on that later in the video.

3rd scene: EB approaching Tower 60.  If you look close towards the silos, you can see a single unit BNSF southbound taking a train over the interlocker.  As the Texrail train turns away from Tower 60, two FWWR units wait for BNSF to clear.  The two will likely end up switching either the BNSF I/C track on the other side of Tower 60, or they are heading south to switch industry and an FWWR yard down by Montgomery Plaza.

4th scene: WB Cresson turn departing Hodge Yard.  A good closeup (albeit quick) view of the new SD60s in their shiny paint.

5th scene: EB over Hodge again.  This was later in the day from the first scene.  The inbound interchange train has put the train away in the yard (no longer blocking the road crossing), and is now turning the power on the wye right below the Texrail train.  This is why (see what I did there?) I think the 4 SD40s are just being used for switching duty; it looks like the SD60s are being turned to head the right direction to take the train to Cresson, similar to the WB turn that was departing in the 4th scene a couple of days previous.

Nothing better than cheap entertainment while riding a train!   Have some passenger and UP clips that I'm working up as well, and I'll post those later today or this week.  Thanks for watching!

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Nice video and explanation. Looking forward to see your next video.
Robert in Island City Oregon