Nostalgia & History > Early morning Lone Star

It's dawn as the Lone Star prepares to leave the Amtrak SP built station in Houston for its daily trip to Chicago.
Unusual to see two baggage cars on this train.

Oct 78

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/19 10:39 by gcm.

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Oh man... That's a neat shot, before the city gets too noisy. I can even hear a couple of birds chirping...

Lance

That's a nasty looking sky casting light on the train. Great image.
Bob

Was the single SDP unusual?  I can’t remember another picture of 15/16 with only one unit.

Dave

Yes, it was normal at this time to see only one SDPF40 leading #16 out of Houston.  At Fort Worth the section from Dallas would be added and that second unit would appear on the lead.

And, oh my, YAWN, I can remember so many times in the early morning, standing at that exact spot where Gary captured this image and inspecting the train before it left.  As the day shift electrician I had to perform an ATS test with the engineer to ensure all was functional before departure. The train had just completed the turn at the wye and we hustled to get the diner and sleeper on charge, the cars and engine watered and any AC problems fixed. Unless the steam leak was horrendous we normally had to let it go that way back to Chicago.

After seeing this picture I feel so blessed having had a chance to work on the Lone Star.  THANKS GARY!
Hou74-76 out

DavidP Wrote:
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> Was the single SDP unusual?  I can’t remember
> another picture of 15/16 with only one unit.
>
> Dave

Always like photos with someything unusual in them.
Thanks for the post.
ALLEN

Another great shot.!

What routing did the Lone Star use? Go through Spring & Lloyd Yard? Navasota or Palestine sub?

Jason Rose
Spring, TX
Rio Grande Explorations

Jason-Rose Wrote:
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> Another great shot.!
>
> What routing did the Lone Star use? Go through
> Spring & Lloyd Yard? Navasota or Palestine sub?


None of the above.

It followed the route of the westbound Sunset Ltd to Rosenberg and then aligned north at tower 17 on the AT&SF to Chicago.  It was the descendent of the Texas Chief and kept the train numbers 15 &16.

Ah, got it. I should've known that.

Thank you.

Jason Rose
Spring, TX
Rio Grande Explorations