Monday, January 7, 2008

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


1 comment:

Bayou said...

If memory serves me correctly, your parents were out of town for the start of 1990. I just thought about this in light of tonight's game.