Western Railroad Discussion > Local switching in Eagle Lake..

 This past Tuesday morning, I went out to catch UP's LHT44 switching the industrial lead in Eagle Lake, Texas.

This local runs from Eureka Yard in Houston to Eagle Lake on Mondays and Thursdays as the LHT43, doing all of its trailing point spots and pickups along the way. When it arrives in Eagle Lake, crews wye the entire train on a surviving piece of the old SA&AP, and then get it ready to run back east the next day. On Tuesdays and Fridays, it returns east as the LHT44, doing all of its trailing point spots and pickups. This eliminates the need for runarounds or complex switching.

1) When I pulled up to the yard around 9 AM, the train had a crew but seemed to be waiting on something. I decided to head over to a nearby bridge to wait for whatever was meeting the local here.

2) Within a few minutes, the eastbound Sunset Limited came flying through town with one of the new Phase VII scheme P42s trailing second. 

3) Just a few minutes later, I heard the unmistakable sound of an EMD 645 prime mover accelerating out of the yard, and the train appeared before me. The sun had come out a little bit by now too, which was nice. 

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4-5) Once the local got into town itself, the locomotive cut off the train to make its pickups. This unique three-way grade crossing is a fascinating sight. This spur is one of the last remaining vestiges of the ex-ATSF/Cane Belt line that once ran between Sealy and Matagorda. There's a railroad supplies business on the end of the spur, which gets deliveries of rail on flatcars and ties in gons. They also have a small car storage yard. 

6) The delivery functions much more like an interchange, where UP will leave cars on the spur not far beyond the switch, and one of the industry's trackmobiles will come pick up the cut later on. Today, the local was picking up an empty cut of rail flats. I'm not entirely sure what the track materials delivered here are for. If anyone has more info on this industry, I'd love to hear it. 

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7) The Geep pulls the cut of pickups out of the spur

8) A video of the loads being shoved into the spur, taken on my iPhone.

After that, the local dropped the cars and headed out of town. All in all, a really neat operation to document.


Thanks for viewing! 

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Nice set in Eagle Lake.
Especially like the activity on the old Cane Belt.
I've seen cars sitting on the old main and wondered why they were there and thanks to your shots now know that the UP picks and drops them off at that spot and not at the A&K site. 
Thanks for the post.
Gary

Really nice catches and what a great freshly painted unit.
JB

Sweet! Really appreciate the video pf the train backing down. The audio of the flange squeal , overall rumble and ties under compression is one of my favorite things about watching railroading these days.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/26 19:12 by ChrisCampi.

Very nice documentation of the local working the A&K Railroad Materials lead. I have only caught the local working there one time in 2024 on a Saturday the Eagle Lake Depot Museum was open.

Matthew