
Train meet at Baldridge, east of Ft Stockton. The two crews will swap trains, the San Angelo crew returning east to San Angelo, the Alpine crew going west back to Alpine. Pictured above is the west bound train out of San Angelo that will go on to Alpine. The track inspector’s hi-rail truck will precede the east bound train back to San Angelo.Train meet at Baldridge, east of Ft Stockton. The two crews will swap trains, the San Angelo crew returning east to San Angelo, the Alpine crew going west back to Alpine. Pictured above is the west bound train out of San Angelo that will go on to Alpine. The track inspector’s hi-rail truck will precede the east bound train back to San Angelo. — ©B. Smith photo
By B. Smith
Off the SP we would get:
Loads of oats and rice for Presidio in covered hoppers
Loads of steel for Hirschfeld in San Angelo
Empty tanks going to Texas Tank in San Angelo for repair
Empty 60 ft box cars for loading with scrap cardboard in San Angelo by Butt’s recycling
Loads of newsprint for San Angelo Standard Times began in April 1994
A load of lumber for San Angelo on Feb 14, 1994
Some examples–
August 5, 1993, we delivered 24 empty LPG tank cars to Alpine.
August 11, 1993, the train from San Angelo had 22 cars, one for Rankin, and 2 loads and 17 empties for Alpine.
August 28, 1993, we pulled 8 cars from the Alpine interchange track and spotted 16 there.
Oats in covered hoppers
Fertilizer in covered hoppers and tank cars
Veneer in 60 ft box cars
Rail from Canada in gons
Feed in box cars
Rice in covered hoppers
Peanut hulls in?
Beans in box cars
Hydrogen peroxide in tank cars
Auto parts in a container on flat car
Calcium phosphate in covered hoppers
Seed in box cars
Poles on flat cars
2 loads of machinery on flat cars
Cotton seed meal in covered hoppers
Milo in covered hoppers
Soybeans in covered hoppers
Wheat in covered hoppers
A few cars of concrete ties
Scrap metal bales in gons
Zinc ore
Refrigerator cars of peppers beginning in 1994
A load of wool
Particle board in box cars
Logs for Prineville, Oregon on bulkhead flats, at least eight cars ( City of Prineville Railroad!)
Tomato paste in box cars

East bound between Alpine and Ft Stockton. The two box cars were picked up off the Alpine Junction transfer track and will be loaded in San Angelo with baled cardboard and then interchanged back to the SP in Alpine. The covered hoppers are empties coming back from Mexico and were interchanged back to the SO in Presidio. — ©B. Smith photo
The South Orient hauled quite a number of loads of aluminum ingots to Mexico. This continued until 1998, starting in February, 1995. The ingots were in 50 ft hi-cube box cars, mostly BN.
I see we also started getting cardboard stock in box cars and tallow oil in tank cars out of Mexico in 1995.