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One of my favorite posts we have done in a while about a night train. It is all about getting some cattle south to get them out of harms way from a winter storm. Check out the blog post. It reads like a very short story! It has a night train, bunking down in the caboose, tumble weeds, a ghost and much more.
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@rails_west – Look for the bloody nose SP short nose GP-9!
Don’t miss your train, hop on today!
By B. Smith
September 24, 1974 when I chased the ATSF local from Oceanside to Escondido.
Below is a photo I took around San Marcos.
A bit further along a covered hopper was set out below.
Editor’s note: This scene inspired Ponderosa Feeds on the Rails West layout. Click here to see it.– ©B. Smith photo
— ©B. Smith photo
— ©B. Smith photo
Below, a short spur ran to a ramp, probably to unload farm machinery. I don’t know why the tank cars are over on that spur. Today a pool supply company is located next to that spur. Could these be chlorine cars? They don’t look like chlorine tank cars.
– ©B. Smith photo
– ©B. Smith photo
The local arrived having already run around a car of lumber and put it ahead of the engine. One of the crew rode the point by sitting on the flat car.
– ©B. Smith photo
Two GP-35s were the power today.
– ©B. Smith photo
Of course, trains still had cabooses in 1974.
– ©B. Smith photo
The load of lumber was spotted first, the covered hoppers were then spotted by the colorful silos and empties pulled, the SP box was left on the stub end track by the station which served as a team track.
– ©B. Smith photo
– ©B. Smith photo
Today this line still exists. The area along the entire line has been turned into housing and the line hosts the Sprinter Light Rail system, but amazingly, the business with all the colorful silos is still there, and rail served. The station is gone as is the ramp spur track. Many photos over the years by Steve Vincent on railcarphotos.com are taken at this industry. One can enter “Escondido” and “CA” here to see them.
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Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Seasons Greetings and Happy New Years from Rails West.
When I was growing up, there was something special about seeing trains around Christmas. On Christmas eve, we would always go to my uncle’s house near a busy line and I’d always run to the tracks with my camera when I heard a diesel horn. I saw many a BN, ATSF, Rock trains run near his house. The line was untypically silent on Christmas eve, but I always dreamed of seeing a Christmas eve train at night. I never did, but I do recall seeing a few trains earlier in the day and that was just fine.
Below is a picture I snapped in 1980 on the line near my uncle’s house.
ATSF in Houston, 1980 -–©photo by C. Hunt
The connection between Christmas and railroads has always been special for me, and those recollections of chasing trains during the day on Christmas eve are still special to me!
The connection is still there and I wanted to share a recent video from the Union Pacific to illustrate an ongoing connection between railroads and Christmas.
All the best to you and yours over the holidays and into 2017!
In the last post, I indicated I’d share a few more freight car shots and more locomotives at work in yards in part III.
ATSF and SP boxcars, November 1977, photographer and location unknown. –©photo C. E. Hunt Collection
What an iconic ATSF car above. Those catches made the trip to the freight worth it alone!
GN and CB&Q boxcar, November 1977, photographer and location unknown. –©photo C. E. Hunt Collection
Catching a Great Northern and Burlington car together? Didn’t get much better than that!
SL-SF #00172, photographer and location unknown. –©photo C. E. Hunt Collection
Another of my personal favorites, the Frisco.
Houston, Belt and Terminal working Mykawa Yard, Houston, Texas, November 1978–©photo by C. E. Hunt
However, the engines working the yards were very appealing as well. There was something about watching a SW-1500 or even a SW-7 chugging back and forth showing their hard work with a reverberation and grey plume from time to time…
I loved these little work horses!
HB&T #54 coming onto Griggs Road, Houston, Texas, November 1978–©photo by C. E. Hunt
Moving back and forth to assemble trains. It really made freight yards a “living” thing.
SP #2300 at Settegast Yard, Houston, Texas November 1978–©photo by C. E. Hunt
Rock Island GP #4543 at Settegast Yard, Houston, Texas, May 1980–©photo by C. E. Hunt
A bonus of growing up in Houston in the late 1970s. I got to witness the closing days of the Rock!
Rock Island GP #4458 at Settegast Yard, May 1980–©photo by C. E. Hunt
ATSF locomotive possibly at Settegast Yard, November 1978. (I have no clue what type of locomotive it was. Rebuild? Help me solve this mystery) –©photo by C. E. Hunt
These were the days! This concludes this series. I hope you enjoyed this journey into the excitement of “old school” freights yards as much as I did.
Note: If you enjoyed this series, please check out my sales efforts on eBay (click here). I am continuing to sell my “non-1981” appropriate or excess items to pay for this site. (slides, scanner, etc.). I way overbought for the size of my Rails West layout. Please share my Rails West site and my eBay site with a friend. Thanks!
By the way, I am working on another structure, Hernandez Distributing. More to come on that.
2008 operations at Badger Mining in Rankin, TX–©photo by C.E. Hunt
I recently wrote on how quickly Fort Stockton, Texas has changed. (See post.) Today’s post focuses on how quickly Rankin, Texas operations have changed since 2008.
In 2008, Rankin was the home of Badger Mining.
Badger supplied frac sand to the oil field before the boom took off. It was a medium-sized facility that had a LOT of character. The manager always wanted to talk high school football.
2008 operations at Badger Mining in Rankin, TX–©photo by C.E. Hunt
It was served by the Texas Pacifico. Below are a few photos I took in 2008. It was an impressive medium-sized operation.
2008 operations at Badger Mining in Rankin, TX–©photo by C.E. Hunt
BNSF 407057 at Badger Mining in Rankin, TX, July 14, 2008–©photo by C.E. Hunt
Lot’s of ATSF (BNSF) action operations at Badger Mining in Rankin, TX July 14, 2008–©photo by C.E. Hunt
Private cars at Badger Mining in Rankin, TX, July 14, 2008–©photo by C.E. Hunt
Texas’ Big Sky Country, Badger Mining in Rankin, TX–©photo by C.E. Hunt
I prefer the ATSF cars! Badger Mining in Rankin, TX, July 14, 2008–©photo by C.E. Hunt
The rolling stock was normally BNSF (or predecessor) or private road.
There was an interesting cable operation to shuttle the cars.
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Today the operation is gone. Across the tracks sits a chemical company that receives drilling fluids by rail.
July 2016 scene at the site of former Badger Mining in Rankin, TX–©photo by B. Smith
July 2016 scene at the site of former Badger Mining in Rankin, TX. Note newer chemical company across the tracks. –©photo by B. Smith
Chemical dealer in Rankin, TX–©photo by B. Smith
Close-up of chemical dealer in Rankin, TX, July 2016–©photo by B. Smith
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Today, if you see a rail scene you like, capture it! It can look a lot different the next time you are through there!
2008 scene at the site of former Badger Mining in Rankin, TX–©photo by B. Smith
2016 scene at the site of former Badger Mining in Rankin, TX–©photo by B. Smith
©B. Smith photo
©B. Smith photo
©B. Smith photo
©B. Smith photo
©B. Smith photo
©B. Smith photo
©B. Smith photo
©B. Smith photo
©B. Smith photo
©B. Smith photo
©B. Smith photo
©B. Smith photo
©B. Smith photo
Mykawa Yard team track, July 1978. —©photo by C. E. Hunt
The last few posts, I shared some vignettes or scenes that evoke special memories that I may seek to at least partially evoke through modelling in the future (somehow). This post will conclude this series and touch on teams tracks and diversity of road names.
Team tracks
I really like team tracks. Team tracks are typically small railroad sidings intended for the use of area customers to personally load and unload products and merchandise, usually in smaller quantities. I love the way almost any kind of car can show up. They are great for model railroads because they don’t need a lot of space and you can spot a wide variety of cars and road names there. No building is necessary. Just a flat spot where customers can load or unload freight cars.
There were a number of team tracks around where I grew up in Houston. The two I kept the closest tabs on were near the corner of Griggs and Telephone Roads and at the Mykawa Yard not far away.
Griggs Road team track
Modern day remnants of the Griggs Road team track on the old SP in Houston. Green dots show the track I saw being used often as a kid.
I saw a wide variety of boxcars and gondolas (gravel) being unloaded over the years growing up. Not once did it dawn on me to record it with my camera. It’d be there forever, right? Even though it was on the SP, I vividly recall a very old mineral red UP gondola (complete with a “Be Specific Ship, Union Pacific” logo in yellow.) being loaded there with old tires one afternoon.
Mykawa Yard team track
KCS boxcar on team at Mykawa Yard Nov 1978–©photo by C. E. Hunt
I loved this team track because it let me see cars from many railroads and a wide variety of loads.
Mykawa Yard team track, see green dots for approximate location. Modern day photo.
I recall many boxcars, refrigerator cars, tank cars and some heavy equipment on flats.
The team track was behind the BN locomotives exiting the yard. –©photo by C. E. Hunt
MP freight leaving Mykawa Yard Nov 1978. Note engine and boom that had been unloaded at the team track. Note the debris in the foreground that one often finds at a team track.-–©photo by C. E. Hunt
Caboose of the MP freight leaving Mykawa Yard Nov 1978. Note crane, engine and boom that had been unloaded at the team track and the likely flat car that helped deliver them. -–©photo by C. E. Hunt
Mykawa Yard, Houston, TX 1978–©Photo by C.E. Hunt
Above is possibly my favorite car that ever came in for some reason. The other side was open. The car had been emptied.
Team track are great opportunities for modellers. They offered a lot of operation possibility with very modest modelling required. One rule though is keep them messy!
Diversity of road names
Railroads used to put a lot of thought into how they decorated their rolling stock AND there used to be a lot of large to medium sized railroads. This makes modelling the 1970s and 80s a bit more interesting. A lot of the iconic railroads stayed independent until the early 1980s. Just check out the diversity in the following pictures from that era.
Here is a sequence from a 1979 ATSF freight train.
ATSF Freight leaving Mykawa Yard Jan 1979. –©Photo by C.E. Hunt
ATSF Freight leaving Mykawa Yard Jan 1979. –©Photo by C.E. Hunt
ICG Bossier City Yard, LA Jan 1978. Note plethora of road names and paint schemes. –©Photo by C.E. Hunt
Lots of icons from the pre-Burlington Northern days! –©Photo by C.E. Hunt
CB&Q Covered hopper near Hardy St Roundouse in Houston, TX Jan 1979 –©Photo by C.E. Hunt
Rock gondola at a team track in Arkadelphia, AR, 1978. (My poor, patient cousin was waiting in the Cordoba as I thoroughly documented this team track and pulp yard.) –©Photo by C.E. Hunt
I could go on and on, but I just wanted to give a glimpse into the diversity.
Ah, these are great memories! Memories can be a big part of why we model.
Hope you found them great too!
Last couple of posts, I shared some vignettes or scenes that evoke special memories that I may seek to at least partially evoke through modelling in the future (somehow). This post will share a few more.
Lots of carload traffic and small scale shipping!
BN #198570 and L&N #91891 Warehouses along Griggs Road in Houston, TX on SP August of 1978 –©photo by C. E. Hunt
I really miss seeing a car or two spotted next to warehouses and factories across the landscape. You can still find some of this across the country, but Class I railroads have really tried to minimize this form of traffic. Many short lines and regional railroads still embrace smaller shippers and offer an opportunity to see this type of traffic.
ICG flat with tires February 1980 –©photo by C. E. Hunt
ICG #920251 holds a load of tires and other items. A single car that will be spotted somewhere cruising through a freight yard in Houston.
Picture taken from Dallas Holiday Inn, August 1980. Note double boxcar being unloaded to left. –©photo by C. E. Hunt
At one time, tracks were almost everywhere in urban settings. It was great seeing tracks weave around urban settings with numerous businesses receiving a box car or two. If you study the 1980 scene of Dallas above, you can see tracks in the distance and a single Southern boxcar spotted for unloading.
Close-up –Note Southern boxcar.
These scenes were so common, that I failed to note their significance and deliberately record them.
Frisco in Ashdown, AR August 1978 –©photo by C. E. Hunt
Here is a perfect example. When I recorded this scene in Ashdown, AR in 1978, I failed to take a picture of a Detroit, Toledo and Ironton boxcar (of all things) spotted at the business to the right.
You can still find a little of this type of traffic on Class I railroads such as the post I wrote last year on one of my favorite spurs in Texas. Not all my rail memories are from the late 1970s!
Molasses operation at Fowlkes Cattle Company in Marfa, TX November 10, 2007 –©photo by C. E. Hunt
Centerbeam flat I ran into in Weimer, TX in December 2008 on the Union Pacific waiting to be unloaded. –©photo by C. E. Hunt
Loads of lumber delivered to Dodson Lumber in Roswell, NM on July 24 2008 on the Southwestern Railway–©photo by C. E. Hunt
40-foot boxcars
L&N 40-foot boxcar on Missouri Pacific freight leaving Mykawa Yard in January 1979. (Shadow of my 15 year-old self in foreground) –©photo by C. E. Hunt
I now look back and realize how special these scenes of 40-foot boxcars are. This was the closing days of forty footers across the nation. Within five years, catching a 40-foot boxcar would be very rare. Wish I’d known that when I was out there taking pictures. I did manage to catch a few of them.
ATSF 40-foot boxcar and possible Maine Central 40 footer as well on Missouri Pacific freight leaving Mykawa Yard Nov 1978–©photo by C. E. Hunt
ATSF 40 footer on MP freight near Texarkana, TX in August 1978. –©photo by C. E. Hunt
40-foot Rock Island boxcar on Burlington Northern freight Houston May 1980. –©photo by C. E. Hunt
Southern 40-foot boxcar on Claremont St in Houston Tx in May 1980.–©photo by C. E. Hunt
The initial picture in the post above (BN and L&N forty footers) also illustrates the beloved 40 footer.
Next post will focus on team tracks and diversity of road names.
A friend of mine, shared this story from the old South Orient Railroad. I love it because it harkens back to old school railroading that is very appealing to me–less unit trains, cabooses, 40-foot boxcars, no graffiti and railroads actually advertised on their rolling stock. I thought you might like it too. It came up as we discussed today’s rail operations on the South Orient’s successor, the Texas Pacifico.
June 5, 2015 on the Texas Pacifico, Belding, TX. –©photo by B. Smith
Pipe train on main just west of west Belding switch. Belding is first siding 10 miles west of Ft Stockton. In the 90’s, the South Orient Railroad used to spot one or two cars of fertilizer per year for the pecan orchard there. (Pipe is for a controversial 42″ natural gas pipeline to run from near Coyanosa through Alpine to Presidio, to connect with a Mexican pipeline.)
Above, the siding is where the word Belding is located. The track runs parallel to the Old Alpine Hwy in far West Texas. The rectangular green areas are pecan groves.
Remnants of Belding siding June 2012. Pecan groves across the highway.
Above, Belding siding (to the left) in June 2012. The unloading lane to the siding track is still visible just this side of the mile post marker.
Here is my friend’s re-collections back when the siding was active–
I had just started out as a conductor and I remember the siding being over-grown with weeds, not all cleared off next to the tracks like now. There was just one lane to the track from the road where the pecan orchard vehicle could get up to the car. Not sure how the car was unloaded, never saw an auger. It was always in the spring when the cars were spotted and the dried weeds from winter balled up under the car as we shoved it to a spot.
Unfortunately, my friend never got a picture of the siding in operation, but he recalls cars similar to this one being there there in the early 1990s. The country around Belding, TX looks somewhat like this photo. ATSF 212426 Montpelier ID July 24 2005. Photo courtesy RJ Sorenson and Railroad Picture Archives.
Railroading in West Texas has it challenges. The region has very dark skies and its share of rattlesnakes. When I asked him if that concerned him, he said, “Railroad lantern for light. One hopes the snakes are scared off, not just awakened.”
Last service to Belding my friend recalls is four loads of fertilizer being spotted there in the spring of 1998.
By the way, this corner of Texas is very isolated and the night skies are among the darkest in the nation.
Old school railroading! (Some modern railroaders would be quick to add, only the lantern has changed.)
Today
The South Orient is a very different railroad now. The Texas Pacifico is a very busy railroad that hauls a great deal of traffic to support oil and gas operations in the region. Rather than a lone GP-7, see below what they run today.
Texas Pacifico locomotives at Fort Stockton, TX June 5 2015. –©photo by B.Smith
Frac sand cars being unloading in Fort Stockton, TX, June 5, 2015. –©photo by B. Smith
Hope you enjoyed this vignette of old school railroading in West Texas in the early 1990s.
Rails West 