Nostalgia & History > Saginaw TX late 1990's

1.  NB BNSF freiight on former ATSF Saginaw TX

2.  UPRR southbound with grain train.  Unknow if load or empty 
     UP also operartes rock trains on this line from a quarry north of 
     Saginaw.  Forgot the name of the quarry, someone please chime in if 
     you know,  Chico?

3.  BNSF nb freight on former ATSF line,  Interesting power.
    
Since these photos were taken, BNSF traffic has changed,  Back 
then BNSF was still running trains across the UP wb.  ATSF even
payed for a bypass track around UP massive Ft Worth hump yard,
BNSF moved that traffic over to the former BN between Ft Worth and 
Amarillo,  The former BN line was upgraded to CTC Ft Worth to Amarillo.
And former ATSF Alliance Yard was upgraded.  Massive changes to the 
intermodal facility.  A line change also happened when Alliance Airport 
extended runway length,   Also CTC connection track was constructed between
the BN and ATSF lines,  As a result Saginaw probably sees fewer trains across the 
diamond,  BNSF builds msny intermodal trains out of Alliance that now move 
through the connection track,  Also mix freights are built at Alliance,
Former ATSF Saginaw Yard is not as busy as it once was,
And finally BNSF CTC (power switches) the connection track between BN (North Yard) and ATSF lines at 
Saginaw,   Use to be hand throw switch that had to be lined back behind 
the last train movement,  

Live streaming camera at Saginaw through a paid subscription is available.  I am not affiliated with 
the provider of this service.  

Saginaw TX is known for a massive grain elevator.   I'll include a photo highlighting the view. 

BNSF used to operate Triple Crown intermodal trains to the former ATSF Saginaw Yard.
This service has been terminated.  I wonder if it was because of the equipment getting older
and failing online,  It's not easy setting out a triple crown unit if stopped by a hot box detector.

Photos by me



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/25 09:11 by highgreen.

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Neat, Neat.  Thank you highgreen, for this nice post.  I always loved the signal tower in photo three.   It has been replaced with a newer structure now.

Thanks for posting.  To try and answer the question, the Triple Crown equipment basically wore out, and NS has dropped the service.  They had stopped the Ft. Worth trains about a year before they ended Tiple Crown altogether.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/25 18:38 by ntharalson.

highgreen Wrote: " . . . Saginaw probably sees fewer trains across the diamond . . . "

As of last year, the number of trains crossing the three diamonds was reduced to zero, as all of the diamonds were replaced with crossover switches.

Matthew