News & Views from T55TS&BS society
6/14/98
A few high thin white clouds over Ft. Worth on Sunday did nothing
to keep
the heat down. Temperatures almost made it to the century
mark, but fell
one digit short. If there was a breeze it was blowing out
of the south at
no more than a mile or two as smoke from a car fire up on the
hill to the
west of the Tower indicated. There were 16 people at the
Tower 55 location
in Ft. Worth, TX between the hours of 3:00 and a little after
7:00 p.m.
More progress to report on the freeway construction project of
the I30 -
I35W. The concrete guardrails look fro the most part to be
completed
except for maybe one or two sections. Surfacing work is
continuing on the
far north side as the freeway ramps from I35 south to I30 are
being worked
on.
The construction type material that showed up on the southwest
corner of
the wye at Tower 55 is still there for the Bowen project.
Power at the Tower:
Unit #
RR
Direction Type of Train / AAR
Reporting Marks
7485
SP
NB/WB Mixed
Freight (106 cars)
539
CR
3:13
BOXCARS GVSR, HS, RBOX, CN, TSE,
3972
UP
ALAB, MP, GTW, CNW, CNA,
NLG, SLR, COR
HOPPERS UP, CRIX, LDCX, BN, GACX,
PLCX, CAGX, GLCX, ACFX, RAIX,
TLCX, NAHX, MP, CNW, SSW,
MKT, ADMX, PTCX, TLDX, SCOX,
UMP, PLCX, NCIX, CN, ATSF
TANKCAR GATX, MGSX, UTLX, STSX, PLGX
EMPTY LUMBER CHTT, CN, TTZX, WCRC
BULKHEAD FLAT SSAM, CN, BN
COIL CAR CR, NS
8119
BN
SB
Mixed Freight (71 cars)
7066
BN
3:28
BOXCARS BN, SLC, MRL, RBOX, AN
4291
HLCX
*
HOPPERS BN, PLCX, ACFX, ELTX, DBCX,
PSPX, SHPX, UTCX, UMP, NAHX,
ECUX
GONDOLA BN
TANKCAR UTLX, HPLX, GATX, PTLX, OCPX
LUMBER CAR TTZX, SRY, MR
BULKHEAD FLAT TTPX
CABOOSE BN (12211)
134
UP
NB
Light Power
1646
UP 3:44
7303
SP
EB/NB Mixed
Freight (75 cars)
7787
SSW
3:45
BOXCARS CNW, MP, WP, CHTT, SP, RBOX,
7829
SP
**
ELS, UP, D&RGW, HCGX
FLATCAR UP
HOPPERS MP, SP, NAHX, RUSX, CHVX,
GVSR, UP, ATSF, TILX, D&RGW,
CNW, CTRN, HLMX, MKT, UMP,
PLMX, ACFX
GONDOLA UP
TANKCAR GETX, UCLX, UTLX, ACFX, OFFX,
CRGX, GATX, FLIX
BULKHEAD FLAT CP
5859
MKM
SB
Mixed Freight (31 cars)
6744
BNSF
3:55
BOXCARS SSAM, BN, MSDR
***
HOPPERS NCHX, BORX, ATSF
GONDOLA CSS, IHB, GONX, ATSF, AM,
DRIR, CAGY, CNW
LUMBER CAR TTZX, HLSC
9704
UP
NB/WB Light
Power
8650
C&NW 4:04
9779 SP
2823
SF
EB/NB Light
Power
3682
SF 4:09
8041
SSW
EB/WB Light
Power
9751
SP 4:10
7811 SP
3180
UP
NB
Grain Train (24 cars)
4298B
UP
4:11
HOPPERS CNW, PLCX, MP, NAHX, UP,
4317B
UP
TGSX, BN
3711 UP
48
AMT
NB
Passenger Train 22
73
AMT
4:16
1167 1264 Baggage Car, 39032
Transition
Sleeper, 32011 Sleeping Car, 38015
Dining Car, 33006 Sightseer Lounge
Car, 31527 Coach Smoking Car,
34091 34041 Coach Car, 32085 Sleeping
Car, 71085 71008 71035 71141 71027
71120 AMTK Express Car
316
SP
SB
Coal Train (102 cars)
7312
UP
4:25
HOPPERS CCTX
202 SP
8810
C&NW
SB
Coal Train (105 cars)
7075
UP
4:30
HOPPERS SATX
6553(R)
UP ****
AMT
SB/NB/EB Passenger Train 22
(no changes)
5:11
5527
UP
EB
Mixed Freight (73 cars)
7880
SP
5:31
BOXCARS KCS, RBOX, CSXT, MSDR, HS,
223
UP
CIRR, IC, NS, SOU, CNW, MP,
GVSR, CN, ATW, BCIT, UP
HOPPERS WC, UP, CNW, MP, ITLX, BN,
UTCX, GACX, ANAX, GPLX, CHVX,
ELTX, ACFX, SOO, CRDX, ALAX
GONDOLA SP, DGNO
TANKCAR UCLX, GATX, NATX, UTLX, PLCX
COIL CAR ATSF, BNSF, BN
669
SF
NB
Mixed Freight (71 cars)
6421
GM
5:37
BOXCARS GVSR, SRN, CSXT, BN, MRL
7811
BN
*****
FLATCAR PBNE, BN
HOPPERS BNSF, SFLC, LCEX, ATSF, BN,
ACFX, PLCX, UMP, GFSX, PTLX,
NRLX, PSPX, ALAX, NAHX, ECUX,
CSXT
TANKCAR PTLX, RCRX, PCHX, GATX, UTLX,
PLCX
EMPTY LUMBER BCOL
3678
UP
NB/WB Light
Power
4228
UP 6:02
9019 MPI
3075
D&RGW
1646
UP
SB/WB MOW
Ballast Train (5 cars)
134
UP 6:05
7447
SF
SB
Mixed Freight (58 cars)
5061
MKM
6:06
BOXCARS ALM, MP, AND, KCS, IATR,
7184
BN
AMC, NLG, CCR, MDR, SP, LPN,
ATSF, GM
HOPPERS CRDX, ATSF, GACX, UTCX, ACFX,
NAHX, EPAX, UTCX, BNSF, BN
GONDOLA GONX, SMPX
TANKCAR GATX, UTLX, NATX, ASTX, MBLX
AUTO ETTX (NS)
3075
D&RGW
EB/NB Light
Power
9019
MPI 6:10
4228 UP
3678 UP
57
AMT
WB/SB/NB Passenger Train 21
64
AMT
6:24
1464 1719 Baggage Cars, 39027
96
AMT
Transition Sleeper, 32084 Sleeping Car,
53
AMT
38019 Dining Car, 33024 Sightseer
Lounge Car, 31519 Coach Smoking,
34051 34005 Coach Car, 32036 Sleeping
Car, 71104 71204 71129 71163 71127
71113 71099 71009 71139 71189 71185
AMTK express car
5548
UP
WB
Z Train (34 cars)
8296
SP
6:31
FLATCAR CP, APLX, DTTX, ATSF, SP
COFC DTTX, IATR, TTAX, CP, NTTX,
VTTX, CN, APLX
TOFC RTTX, TTAX, TILX, TTLX
WELL CAR SP
9520
UP
EB
Z Train (53 cars)
8385
SP
6:38
COFC DTTX, RTTX, NTTX, VTTX, CP
3270
UP
TOFC CNW, RTTX, HS, MNA, WE, KTTX,
TTGX, TTLX, TTAX, FEC, TTWX,
NTTX, NS, VTTX, TTWX, TILX,
TTAX, CRLE, KCS, MNA
57
AMT SB/NB/WB/EB/NB Light
Power
SB/NB
6:45
6660
UP
NB
Coal Train (110 cars)
7062
UP
7:00
HOPPERS GEAX, CWEX
8201 UP
8059 UP
8014(R) UP
AMT
SB
Passenger Train 21 (changes)
7:10
64, 96 AMT was the power and only one
express boxcar 71104.
* What s this two weeks in a row for caboose s. This
one was in mid train
and the HLCX unit was wearing CN colors.
** A white tankcar with a red band around the middle displaying a
builders
date of 4/98.
*** There were 7 black gondolas all showing a builders date of
4/98.
**** Some shinny hoppers among the duller aluminum colored
hoppers with the
Red ends for SATX that were built back in 12/97.
***** Add three more white tankcars with a Rust Stripe around the
middle
for the RCRX with a date of 6/98.
Was making plans for this weekend to do a little R&R (Railfan
& Research) in
the Shrevport, LA area. And I thought to myself it would be
nice to take a
little train trip over to Marshall, Tx, rent a car and drive on
over to
Shrevport. But alas, after I made my reservations with
Amtrak, and started
checking on car rental places I started hearing some discouraging
words.
We cannot guarantee that anybody will be there to meet the train
if it is
running late. Our office here in Marshall closes at 6
p.m. So I checked
Texarkana figuring I could drop down from there to
Shreveport. No Luck.
Now I am really starting to get worried because the days that I
started
doing all this planning Amtrak 22 was running so late that it was
not due
into Marshall until 11 p.m. So I call Amtrak back and get
another rude
awakening from an equally rude Amtrak employee after explaining
my concerns
and inquiring about the bus connection to Shreveport, La I was
told that it
was a common carrier and there would be no guarantee that it
would wait for
Amtrak either. Well so much for plan A & B. Now I
move into plan C & D
which will call for me to determine on the day of travel if we
will use
Amtrak or not. If Amtrak is not on time we drive.
Nothing to do with
money. Just poor
service.
Do not know what happened to the Light Rail this evening but
trains that
are normally 10 minutes apart were arriving one right after the
other from
the downtown area. Do know that there was a service problem
on the
Commuter Rail that involved one of their generators. This
caused them to
miss the 6:05 departure from Union Station. Compounding
this problem was
the arrival of Amtrak 22. See above. And the return
trip was just as bad
with signal problems all the way from Union Station to South
Irving. But
to their credit, we were kept informed of what was going on and
did
eventually make it into South Irving without too much grumbling.
Guess we are coming up on the 1 year anniversary of the
congestion problem
of the UP. For what it s worth. Looks like a repeat
of last year as the
problems are still the same. And what UP is throwing at it,
to be frank is
too little, too late. Just hope that there is not as great
a loss of life
as last year.
Until we visit again, be safe and may your wheels keep spinning.
___[]_______________
/
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/
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/________________________\
|
|
| _______________ |
| |______|______| |
| |______|______| |
|
|
| John C. Smith |
|
T55TS&BS |
|
aka |
| Double Nickel |
|______________________|
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