Late January in San Angelo

At some point in late January (exact date not recorded) I made a quick trip out to the San Angelo yard to see what was on hand. The results were quite typical of what I'd normally see out there on a weekday or Sunday afternoon when the three-day-a-week local from Brownwood was in town. (It ran west from Brownwood to San Angelo on Sun-Tue-Thur, and returned to Brownwood on Mon-Wed-Fri).

.

GP7 # 2183 - San Angelo, TX - January 1990

B23-7 # 6412 in San Angelo.

Ballast regulator.

Power on hand at ATSF San Angelo yard:

ATSF 2183 (GP7)
ATSF 6412 (B23-7) / 2222 (GP7) / 2709 (GP30)

That's all for today and for this month; next update will be on or about February 3.

WSC

Austin - Arlington - Fort Worth

January 19-21, 1990

I was the District Bulletin Editor for the Texas-Oklahoma District of Key Club International (high school level community service organization sponsored by Kiwanis International) during the 1989-90 school year. During the weekend of January 19-21, I was in Austin for a district board meeting. It was time for us to begin making preparations for our district convention which would take place in Austin in April. Our hotel featured a view of the railroad bridge across the Colorado River, and during the weekend, I snapped a few photos of trains rolling across it.

southbound UP freight crosses the Colorado River

Key Clubbin' in Austin - me, Natasha, and Brian. Natasha was one of our Lieutenant Governors and was also from San Angelo. We were good friends all the way through high school. Brian was our District Treasurer and was from Victoria.

sporting my District Editor badge -- and a Cure t-shirt!

Brush with greatness: District Governor James R. meets Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox

Instead of returning to San Angelo on Sunday after the board meeting, I caught a ride to Arlington with Key Club Governor James. (I remember during that drive north on I-35, hearing the B-52's song "Roam" for the first time). On Monday, I met up with some friends for a college familiarization trip to TCU in Fort Worth. After that, I had a couple hours to poke around Tower 55 and UP's Centennial Yard in Fort Worth.

Bad shot of a good consist: an MP SD40-2 and a Santa Fe C30-7 lead an eastbound ready to depart Centennial yard.


former MoPac GP15-1 wears UP colors at Tower 55.

That's all for now... check back in about a week for the next report.

WSC

Tecific & Sweetwater - 1 of 2

January 7, 1990 - Tecific and Sweetwater (part 1 of 2)

First train of the day: a westbound passes the Tecific station sign

I spent the day a few miles east of Sweetwater, TX at Tecific. Tecific was the closest place I could drive to from San Angelo where I could see two rail lines -- the Santa Fe Lampasas Sub (Sweetwater to Temple) and the UP Baird Sub (former T&P, Fort Worth to El Paso). It took about an hour and a half to drive up there from San Angelo. I had been there twice the previous November.

My girlfriend had originally agreed to go with me this time, but when I called her early Sunday morning, she decided to stay home. So I ended up spending the day by myself. I enjoyed clear skies for the entire day. It was cold in the morning (30s and 40s) but it warmed up nicely during the afternoon, to a high of about 65 or 70. I remember taking a nap in the back of my truck for an hour or so in the early afternoon. I had to wake up quickly and get ready to take a picture when a train showed up!

I also remember feeling relieved that trains were still running in the year 1990. To listen to the skeptics and gloom-n-doomers during the late 1980s, one would have thought that 1990 would usher in the decade when all the railroads would finally declare bankruptcy and pull up their tracks forever. How wrong they were...

Anyway, enjoy the pics...

This westbound included a cowl and a "Kodachrome".

Later in the morning, I relocated to the curve at MP 456.

Kodachrome SD45 # 5342 leads a westbound.

Westbound between Tecific and Sweetwater.

Westbound on the UP Baird Subdivision.

This eastbound woke me up from my nap...

A pair of deuces powers an eastbound...

Stay tuned for part 2...

WSC

Tecific & Sweetwater - 2 of 2

January 7, 1990 - Tecific & Sweetwater (Part 2)

More from January 7 ...

ATSF 2859 leads a westbound...

UP 3229 heads west at Tecific with a delivery for Santa Fe.

Power on the UP delivery included this former Conrail GP38, patched for the Katy...

Santa Fe SF30C 9539 holds the main at Sweetwater as the UP delivery arrives.

Santa Fe SD45 5385 at Sweetwater.

Here is the day's final tally...

1) ATSF w/b freight - 5833 (SD45-2) / 3850 (GP50)

2) ATSF w/b freight - 5848 (SD45-2) / 5968 (SDF45) / 9545 (SF30C - kodachrome)

3) ATSF w/b freight - 5342 (SD45 - kodachrome) / 2941 (GP35) / 3684 (GP39-2)

4) UP w/b freight - 3453 (SD40-2) / 4141 (SD40-2) / 3663
(SD40-2)

5) ATSF e/b COFC - 5840 (SD45-2) / 5373 (SD45)

6) ATSF e/b COFC - 5183 (SD40-2) / 5213 (SD40-2)

7) ATSF e/b freight - 5063 (SD40-2) / 5330 (SD45) / 6383 (B23-7) / 2854 (GP35)

8) ATSF w/b TOFC - 2859 (GP35) / 5806 (SD45-2 - kodachrome) / 4007 (GP60)

9) UP w/b freight (interchange to ATSF) - 3229 (SD40-2) / 4136 (SD40-2) / 4234 (SD40-2) / MKT 232 (GP38 - ex-CR)

10) ATSF e/b freight - 9539 (SF30C - Kodachrome) / 5080
(SD40-2) / 5385 (SD45)

11) power on hand at Sweetwater: ATSF 5201 (SD40-2)

WSC

New Years 1990

January 1, 1990

This was me at the start of 1990, on a ski trip at Sierra Blanca in New Mexico with some friends from Key Club. Due to a lack of snow, we didn't do much skiing, but we did enjoy the nice scenery and each others' company. In a few days I'd be back in San Angelo to start the second semester of my senior year at Central High School.

WSC