Western Railroad Discussion > Catching the KCS in SE Texas

Chapter 2 of my trip to SE Texas to catch some KCS trains before the road becomes lost in the CP world.  - Location clarifications welcomed! 

1) Our first encounter of KCS equipment was at KCS facility in Beaumont called Higgins (or so I believe).  Three geeps at an end-of-track bumper.  Somehow fitting for the theme of the trip.

2) An elevated view of the trio with road power in the background. 

3) After spotting the idle power and a crew van, we were hopeful a crew might start work, but that didn’t happen.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/22 01:08 by DelMonteX.

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4) However, as we started to head toward the lift bridge at the port, we came across a crew working at the north end of a small yard.  

5) From the ground. 

6) From the air.

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/22 01:09 by DelMonteX.

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7) More from the air. 

8) Last one of this train before heading north. 

9) Back at the port, nothing was moving around the lift bridge, so after getting a shot of the Jefferson Energy terminal, we started out for Dequincy LA.   

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/22 01:09 by DelMonteX.

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10)  However, along the way we spotted a train at Vidor TX.  I’d heard radio chatter about a train with a problem.  We soon able to determine that a train on the siding had problems and a train on the main was waiting for a crew.    After a fairly long wait, the BNSF train on the siding (with a CP leader) got moving.   Finding a couple of nice spots in the Bairds Bayou, we shot that train (photos in another post).  Using the drone, I spotted another southbound.   This time it was a KCS train and we headed back to the Bayou for this shot. 

11)  We even got a Belle DPU.   Anyone know the story about the old bridge abutments?  Was this another railroad? 

12)  Now we had a decision to make, head for Louisiana and hope for trains along the way to Dequincy, or hang out here for a while.  Again the drone helped to make the decision, as another train was spotted southbound.   The trains were running rather slow through the area, so we had time to determine that the new southbound was also a KCS train.  Decision made, back to the Lift bridge in Beaumont.  We were pretty happy with that choice.  Unfortunately, no gators to shoot in the bayou ( shoot, you know, with a camera).  

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/22 01:06 by DelMonteX.

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13) Turning the drone to follow this southbound revealed a northbound waiting at the end of double track.
 
14) Hear is the DPU. 

15) We figured that the northbound would leave shortly after the southbound cleared, but after 20 minutes or so, that was clearly not the case.  Which of course was because there was another southbound.  

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/22 01:10 by DelMonteX.

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16) As the light began to fade, the southbound the signal and crossed the bridge.
 
17) With the sun set, another train showed up.  This might be a UP, I like how it turned out.

18) I’ll end this chapter with a KCS sign found at the yard near Higgins.  Wonder who’s going to take this home after CP takes over?

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

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You did very good in the Beaumont area. I have been there many times and have never seen a KCS cross the bridge? Only UP and BNSF. Wasn't aware of the big tank car place across the river. KCS coming at you in 13 would be from Mexico.
JB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/22 06:23 by 3rdswitch.

The KCS yard at Beaumont is called Chaison Yard.  I used to work at that steel mill shown in the background of photo 9, back when Jefferson Energy was still just a swamp.

Ted Ferkenhoff
Flagstaff, AZ

The photo of the round yard at the storage tanks is a great shot.  Thanks for doing this.

Great coverage!
Thanks for posting.
Regards, Jim Evans

Fantastic series, esp. of facilities seldom seen. Your drone work is terrific!

JG

There was a road of some type across Bairds Bayou that probably accounts for the abutments you spotted. Interesting was there was a second railroad draw bridge near the KCS bridge that was Southern Pacific's. The bridge was removed prior to 1979 where it no longer appears USGS maps. The SP line is still there branching off KCS east towards Orange, TX, I'm guessing this is now UP.
Go

Great series!

Good coverage of the area, which I visited in April. Sadly, we were very unlucky with freights across the river in Beaumont, but did spot the KCS sign. Ta, chris uk.

Steve, you're way off your usual area... and that's great!

mapboy

Thanks for the great comments!    

Steve Carter
Gig Harbor, WA
My Photography

Great stuff..!!  Thanks for posting.