Two and a Half Trains
No, it's not a new railroad-themed sitcom for CBS' Monday lineup. Yesterday I decided I'd spend what would probably be the last of the warm, sunny afternoons of the year doing one of my favorite things- train watching. By the time I got down to the BNSF line through the southern part of the state I only had about three hours of light left, but I still managed to see a couple trains- or rather, two and a half trains:
Coal empties roll west behind SD70MAC 9625, a few miles outside of Lucas. There's a sort of creekish thing next to the tracks, given that this is in a valley of sorts, so there's rip rap along the edge of the grade to help prevent erosion.
The train then crosses over one of the tributaries of the creek as it heads toward Osceola.
No distributed power locomotives on this one.
And this is the half-train. Maintenance of way equipment heads east behind a Brandt road-rail vehicle. I'd heard of these things but never actually seen one before. Obviously, as you can see, it's capable of pulling a number of full size railroad cars, though it's worth noting that these ballast hoppers are empty.
And there they go. The cars were all in either Burlington Northern or Santa Fe colors- no repaints here, in spite of the fact that the BNSF merger took place over 15 years ago.
The second 'whole' train arrived as the sun was setting. Or at least setting there- the hills behind me were beginning to block its light. A cloud or two were also intervening.
The two General Electric units on the lead are working overtime to move this train along at a good pace.
This train does have distributed power- two EMD units bring up the rear.
And that's that. Next time I go trackside, I suspect I'll need a jacket.
Coal empties roll west behind SD70MAC 9625, a few miles outside of Lucas. There's a sort of creekish thing next to the tracks, given that this is in a valley of sorts, so there's rip rap along the edge of the grade to help prevent erosion.
The train then crosses over one of the tributaries of the creek as it heads toward Osceola.
No distributed power locomotives on this one.
And this is the half-train. Maintenance of way equipment heads east behind a Brandt road-rail vehicle. I'd heard of these things but never actually seen one before. Obviously, as you can see, it's capable of pulling a number of full size railroad cars, though it's worth noting that these ballast hoppers are empty.
And there they go. The cars were all in either Burlington Northern or Santa Fe colors- no repaints here, in spite of the fact that the BNSF merger took place over 15 years ago.
The second 'whole' train arrived as the sun was setting. Or at least setting there- the hills behind me were beginning to block its light. A cloud or two were also intervening.
The two General Electric units on the lead are working overtime to move this train along at a good pace.
This train does have distributed power- two EMD units bring up the rear.
And that's that. Next time I go trackside, I suspect I'll need a jacket.