trains-dec19-dec24-2007

   From December 19 through December 24, 2007 I made a Christmas trip to visit my father in Texas and did some railfanning on the way. The following contains photos and captions for the trip and includes the following towns:
   IN ARKANSAS: Malvern, Donaldson, Arkadelphia, Gurdon, Prescott, Hope. IN TEXAS: Marshall, Hearne, Rockdale, Milano, Caldwell, Somerville, Sealy, Cat Spring, New Ulm, Brenham.
   LOCOMOTIVES: SP/UP 2756 *** PANDROL JACKSON RAIL GRINDER *** TEXAS STATE RAILROAD 7 AND 300 *** GATX 2112 *** BNSF 6982, 4470, 4864, 4173, 3034, 3032, 9562, 9995, 1017, 4451 *** T&P STEAM LOCOMOTIVE 400 *** EMD 9080, 9083 *** CN 9468 *** AMT 5 *** MIDSOUTH 1041, 1602 *** UP 334, 5340, 2874, 3218, 9335, 6686, 1973, 3822, 7578.
   OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Malvern, Arkansas 1876 roundhouse *** Panorama mosiac in Prescott, Arkansas *** Catalpa Tree, Hope, Arkansas *** Texas Eagle No. 21 arriving in Marshall, Texas *** Texas State Railroad grounds *** Silhouetted crossing signal with a sunset.
   While in Sealy, Texas I met Matthew Dittert, a regular on the Railspot Yahoo Group.

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These images are clickable to enlarge (

). If you have broadband and wish to view all the photos in a larger format, click on:
http://www.trainweather.com/trains-dec19-dec24-2007-bb.html

LEFT-MALVERN, ARKANSAS December 19, 2007. UP 334 on a siding with the Diamond Jo narrow gauge roundhouse still standing in the center of the picture. It's wedge shaped. I helped get this listed on the National Register of Historic Places a few years ago. It was built in 1876 and now is used mainly for storage. To view more pictures of this historic structure, click on:
http://www.trainweather.com/malvernroundhouse.html
RIGHT-December 19. UP 5340 passing the Malvern depot (also used as the Amtrak station for the Texas Eagle) at 1:26 p.m. eastbound.

LEFT-DONALDSON, ARKANSAS December 19. UP 2874 idle on a siding in Donaldson, Arkansas. RIGHT-A train approaches from the east at 1:49 p.m.

LEFT-DONALDSON, ARKANSAS December 19. Gates lowering (yes, there are lots of crossing gates in Arkansas on the main lines). RIGHT-UP 3218 westbound at 1:49 p.m.

LEFT-ARKADELPHIA, ARKANSAS December 19, the Amtrak station for the Texas Eagle. The train comes through in the middle of the night. RIGHT-The same train that went through Donaldson earlier is apporaching the Arkadelphia station at 2:26 p.m.

ARKADELPHIA, ARKANSAS. UP 3218 again.

LEFT-GURDON, ARKANSAS December 19. MidSouth locomotives at the Georgia Pacific plant siding just outside of Gurdon, Arkansas. RIGHT-Midsouth locomotives 1041 and 1602 at 2:47 p.m.

LEFT-GURDON, ARKANSAS December 19. A wider angle view of the GP plant. RIGHT-The tracks cross US Highway 67 south of the GP plant just east of Gurdon.

LEFT-PRESCOTT, ARKANSAS December 19. This painted mosaic is visible nearing downtown Prescott. Notice that the center attracton is a locomotive. RIGHT-The Prescott old Missouri Pacific depot is now a museum.

LEFT-Elevation sign. RIGHT-PRESCOTT, ARKANSAS. UP 9335 eastbound through Prescott at 3:20 p.m. with 6 locomotives.

LEFT-Worn CN 9468. RIGHT-HOPE, ARKANSAS December 19. This depot is now a museum and contains many good displays.

RIGHT-The opposite side of the depot museum with the Mopac buzzsaw emblem.

LEFT-The fence is painted like a passenger train. RIGHT-The Catalpa Tree believed to have been planted in 1912 when the depot was built.

LEFT-The Catalpa Tree in Hope. RIGHT-MARSHALL, TEXAS December 20. Kitties waiting for their food at the Marshall T&P depot.

MARSHALL, TEXAS December 20. BNSF 6982 with an empty container train at 8:17 a.m. passing the T&P station. Taken from the second floor balcony.

MARSHALL, TEXAS December 20. Amtrak's Texas Eagle No. 21 arriving at the station at 8:35 a.m.

LEFT-Marshall is a crew change point for Amtrak. RIGHT-The Texas Eagle pulls forward to its second stop, this time for passengers.

LEFT-Looks like a good deal of luggage on the platform. RIGHT-Zoomed in photo of diners in the dining car. Apparently they saw me on the balcony.

LEFT-The Eagle leaves for Longview, Dallas and parts west. RIGHT-UP-SP 2756 arriving in Marshall at 9:44 a.m.

LEFT-MARSHALL, TEXAS December 20. UP 2756 in the bright sunshine. RIGHT-UP 6686 passes the station at 9:56 a.m.

LEFT-An eastbound passes the westbound. RIGHT-GATX 2212 at 10:22 a.m.

RIGHT-Pandrol Jackson rail grinding train at the yards east of the depot.

LEFT-A wider view of the rail grinder train. RIGHT-The excellent, restored Marshall T&P station. It contains the T&P museum.

LEFT-MARSHALL, TEXAS December 24 (on my way back to Arkansas). T&P 2-8-0 No. 400 at a park in Marshall. This engine will be moved to the Marshall depot in the future. RIGHT-TEXAS STATE RAILROAD-PALESTINE, TEXAS December 20, 2007. Freshly painted locomotive No. 7 and a newly painted Cafe Observation No. 1511 at the Texas State Railroad in Palestine, Texas.

TEXAS STATE RAILROAD-PALESTINE, TEXAS December 20.

TEXAS STATE RAILROAD-PALESTINE, TEXAS December 20. Inside displays.

To view Texas State Railroad's Polar Express trip on December 23, which I rode, click this link:
http://www.trainweather.com/tsr-polarexpress.html
This Polar Express link will contain photos of the train, on board photos and sound MPEG movies taken on board with all the children singing Christmas carols, drinking hot chocolotate, etc, plus a movie of the train arriving at the stations with hundreds waiting.

LEFT-Steam engine No. 300 in the shelter. RIGHT-Seven of the TSR cars.

RIGHT-HEARNE, TEXAS December 20, 2007. UP 1973 going south near the diner on Highway 6-79 at 4:27 p.m.

LEFT-ROCKDALE, TEXAS December 20. The renovated Rockdale depot and old Missouri Pacific diner with the Moon above at sunset. RIGHT-Looking west along UP's tracks into the sunset from the Rockdale depot. Reminds me of the song 'Far Away Places.'

LEFT-MILANO, TEXAS December 21, 2007. UP 3822 on a siding at 9:26 a.m. heading east. This siding was off US Highway 79, just west of the crossing with the BNSF. RIGHT-CALDWELL, TEXAS December 21. BNSF heading south through Caldwell at 9:51 a.m.

LEFT-CALDWELL, TEXAS December 21. BNSF 4479 at 9:51 a.m. heading south. RIGHT-SOMERVILLE, TEXAS December 21 at the Somerville BNSF yards.

LEFT-The train I photographed in Caldwell at 9:51 headed by BNSF 4470, is heading into the Somerville yards at 10:28 a.m. RIGHT-BNSF 4470 at a Somerville crossing with a car crossing in front of the train. The zoom makes it seem a little closer to the car than it is.

LEFT-SOMERVILLE, TEXAS December 21. A line of Santa Fe/BNSF locomotives north of Somerville. RIGHT-SEALY, TEXAS December 21, 2007. BNSF 4864 northbound at 1:18 p.m. The track in the foreground connects with the old Katy's Smithville Sub to my left.

RIGHT-SEALY, TEXAS December 21. FURX 7236 on the BNSF heading south at 2:14 p.m.

LEFT-EMD 9080. RIGHT-CAT SPRING, TEXAS December 21. A string of rock-hauling gons are moving through downtown Cat Spring toward Sealy. I missed the locomotives, but caught up with them later.

LEFT-SEALY, TEXAS December 21, 2007. This yellow signal was taken from a road crossing (CR 2187) just inside the Sealy, Texas city limits looking toward Sealy. Notice the ribbon rail laying to the right of the UP (MKT) tracks, so it appears an upgrade is to occur shortly. RIGHT-UP 7578 heads a rock train at the County Road 2187 crossing just west of Sealy, Texas at 3:13 p.m. The crew just got out and boarded a crew van. This train had gone through Cat Spring just before this.

LEFT-UP 7578 at the County Road 2187 crossing in Sealy. RIGHT-NEW ULM, TEXAS December 21 showing a silhouetted crossing signal against the sunset. The tracks are UP's former Katy Smithville Sub.

LEFT-NEW ULM, TEXAS December 21 sunset with windmill. RIGHT-BRENHAM, TEXAS December 22, 2007. I found this work train headed by EMD 9083 parked on the connector from the BNSF main (foreground) to the old SP east-west line.

LEFT-BRENHAM, TEXAS December 22, looking to the west along the former SP line to Burton at the work train parked there about 8:30 a.m. RIGHT-The Santa Fe Freight Depot still stands in Brenham.

LEFT-SEALY, TEXAS December 22. These Santa Fe locomotives were parked on the connector from the BNSF to UP (Santa Fe to Katy). RIGHT-BNSF(SantaFe) 3034 and 3032 in Sealy. Railspot Yahoo Group member Matthew Dittert joined me here for a couple of hours.

LEFT-SEALY, TEXAS December 22, a southbound BNSF coal train just crossed the UP (Katy) line at 3:04 p.m. RIGHT-BNSF 8854 leads the coal train.

LEFT-The DPU was BNSF 9562. RIGHT-BNSF 9995 trails.

LEFT-The parked 3034. RIGHT-SEALY, TEXAS December 22. Looking west along the old Katy (UP) toward Smithville, Texas. The crossing is with the BNSF.

SOUTH OF SOMERVILLE, TEXAS December 23, 2007. BNSF 1017 leads an intermodal southbound about 1 p.m.

This concludes my Christmas Texas trip trainwise.