Steam & Excursion > AFT Confidential 17- Dallas TX

17 Dallas Feb 29- Mar 4

The move from Ft Worth to Dallas was an insanely short Leap Year Day run of 30mi or so, and I doubt we even bothered to sleep.
It should have been a quick forgettable move- but the “tear down” was done in a pouring rain that made for an ordeal. Slippery and dangerous is what I remember. A muddy mess!
In Dallas we set up at the Cotton Bowl/State Fair Grounds alongside the Age of Steam Museum, still a modest affair at the time that has grown and prospered (and moved) becoming today's Museum of the American Railroad.

We borrowed a car from the courtesy pool* and did a bit of railfanning. In doing so we inadvertently drove through Dealey Plaza- an unsettling experience for anyone of a certain age group!
SR Bush
Dutch Flat

*The AFT was sponsored, in part, by General Motors. In nearly every city we visited the local GM dealer(s?) would loan us a half dozen cars for our stay. The folks in Car 100 (Security) held the keys and if you could make a case for an acceptably sounding need, you got a car for an agreed upon time. Our short railfanning excursions were usually under cover of “doing laundry”.

Photo 1. Tony's first ramp. The Entry/Exit ramps were assembled from a huge selection of panels and legs. How they were put together was always a debate, and there were hundreds of variations. “How about an Albuquerque entrance, but maybe a Spokane exit to the left at the end?” “No No NO!- this should just be a straight Yuma. No need to get so fancy!” In Dallas we went with Tony's call on the exit ramp. His first. (personally, I'd have had added one short panel at the door to get it away from the HEP radiator intake grills, but Tony got the call)
Photo 2. Jim & Doc Harvey folding flags. The back story to this is just too embarrassing to tell. But heart felt apologies to the good people of Ft Worth. Sorry.... really!
Photo 3. The Dallas section of the Texas Chief. I looked up Amtrak 433 and it says it's a former UPRR unit. Sure doesn't look very UP!

Photo 4. Craig ('49 Crew) in full foam.
Photos 5&6. A Rock Island switcher in repose- one with ATSF, the other with SL-SF in the background.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/21 03:46 by BoilingMan.

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Photo 7. Baldwin-ish KATY switchers.
Photo 8. And finally, a FW&D caboose. Should that load of poles be there?!

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Great that you took interesting photos along the way!

Regards, Jim Evans

Really enjoying the series, photos and stories alike.
The RI 934 was regularly over in Irving, TX west of Dallas. I have a number of photos of it there in the late 1970s.

2-10-2

FiveChime Wrote:
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> Great that you took interesting photos along the
> way!
>
> Regards, Jim Evans


The AFT provided me a great tour of US railroading in the mid-1970's.  The march towards massive mergers had only just begun.  Conrail started while we were in the neighborhood, and Canada's VIA too.  Amtrak was getting it's first F40's (I have pics of days old F40's) and the first Amfleet too.  Lots of 1st generation power, including D&H PA's and GG1's.  AutoTrain was still purple.  
And it was all, really, just dumb luck on my part.  Luckily I brought a camera along!
SR

I dont remember being so lucky in San Francisco. I took Laurie around in my own car for the four days collecting the laundry and than going to the laundramat at the R.V. Park at 4th anf Townsend. All of the AFT errands were done in my car.  Not complaining but if Laurie couldn't get a car, none one did as I remember.  Anywaay, just my 2 cents.

Huh. Maybe they didn’t get courtesy cars in SF, but that seems odd- we always had cars in my year aboard.
The advance team always had the cars set up before we arrived.
One of the advance guys had the nick name “Wheels”. Wheels usually got himself a Corvette and treated the the train’s crew to the “SS” versions of Novas and other Chevy models. I remember that at one stop (I can’t recall which) the night operations crew held 2am drag races (from the steam locomotive to the exit car) with a pair of Nova SS’s Wheels had provided.
I know it sounds like I’m making this up, but I’m sure there are a few witnesses out there.. SP4360, you were on the night crew- do you remember that stunt?
SR

One other note.  #4449 and the tool (steam baggage) car were parked at Aquatic Park a few feet from the Hyde St. Pier. There is a 16 degree curve after you go thru the Ft. Mason Tunnel across from Safeway that someone said it was too tight for the '49  80 inch drivers.  (we now know with a little bit of grease and walking speed usually does the trick)   Anyway, we kept a spot fire for the first three nights and I took the first shift with Doyles Dad in the cab.  One night,  Roy decided to give the folks at the Fontana West and East Conddos a little morning wake-up call and about 3:00 am gave whistle, two longs, a short and a long. Well, half the lights in both towers came on from the folks who hadn't a clue what it was or what happened!  Probably woke up Russian Hill as well!  It was lots of fun hearing stories about Roys 47 year railroad career and at the same time, inside the warm, comfortable cab during the cold, damp and windy nights next to the water.  Yep, it was more fun than a kid my age should be allowed to have......

Mike Pechner

We did night time drag races with pretty much anything that had wheels. Don't remember the SS'sss, but that doesn't mean anything as there was so many things to "play" with after work during the night, some of which involved paperclips and golf carts. Then there was the wheel chair time trials down the beltway through the train, usually ending in a pileup in the exit car.


BoilingMan Wrote:
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> Huh. Maybe they didn’t get courtesy cars in SF,
> but that seems odd- we always had cars in my year
> aboard.
> The advance team always had the cars set up before
> we arrived.
> One of the advance guys had the nick name
> “Wheels”. Wheels usually got himself a
> Corvette and treated the the train’s crew to the
> “SS” versions of Novas and other Chevy models.
> I remember that at one stop (I can’t recall
> which) the night operations crew held 2am drag
> races (from the steam locomotive to the exit car)
> with a pair of Nova SS’s Wheels had provided.
> I know it sounds like I’m making this up, but
> I’m sure there are a few witnesses out there..
> SP4360, you were on the night crew- do you
> remember that stunt?
> SR

BoilingMan Wrote:
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> Photo 4. Craig ('49 Crew) in full foam.

Lol this got me digging and I found the picture he was taking while you were taking the picture of him!

Unfortunately I do not have a slide scanner, so a picture of a slide is the best I can do at the moment. But trust me it is a slide, even though it looks more like a painting.

And now it's costing me as just bought a slide scanner. I've only been meaning to do it for years and this finally convinced me to do so. Maybe I'll be able to throw in more AFT pictures as the trip progresses along.

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Wow- that really is a curious looking photo!   
I look forward to seeing his photos from the tour.  Please follow along and post what you have.
SR

Phot6o of a slide looks like a painting!

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

Nice shot Craig !

Alright now that I am scanner equipped I can properly post the picture that was being taken in picture 4 of this thread. Photo by AFT fireman Craig Thomas.

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Great!
Keep ‘em coming!
SR