Half a Lifetime Ago: Sweetwater

Showing posts with label Sweetwater. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Sunday at Tecific / Sweetwater - 1 of 2

Sunday, February 25, 1990

I decided to spend most of the day east of Sweetwater at Tecific, where the Santa Fe Lampasas Subdivision ran parallel to the UP Baird Subdivision for a mile or so. It was a fairly typical Sunday at Tecific.

ATSF 5833 leads eastbound sulfur loads at Tecific.

UP 5013 is the trailing unit on a UP westbound.

ATSF 5174 / Conrail 6332 at Sweetwater

westbound trailers at Tecific

ATSF GP60 # 4016

Stay tuned for Part 2...

WSC

Sunday at Tecific / Sweetwater - 2 of 2

UP 4244 leads a transfer for the Santa Fe at Tecific

Meanwhile, UP 228 heads toward Sweetwater to perform local work...

Side by side at Tecific: UP 4244 and ATSF 5149. Both trains are waiting to enter Sweetwater.

ATSF 8748. This may have been the last U36C I ever saw.

ATSF 3438 leads a westbound into Sweetwater.

Trailing unit on a westbound: ATSF 6407.

Back together, UP's westbound heads west through Sweetwater.

Sweetwater / Tecific trip

1) UP w/b freight - MP 5027 (SD50 - UP yellow) / UP 5049 (SD50) / UP5013 (SD50)

2) ATSF e/b sulfur - 5833 (SD45-2) / 5510 (SD45-2B) / 8736 (U36C) / more???

3) UP e/b freight - MP 5053 (SD50 - UP yellow) / UP 3972 (SD40-2) / 5001(SD50) / 3148 (SD40-2)

4) ATSF w/b TOFC - 5025 (SD40-2) / 4016 (GP60)

5) ATSF e/b freight - 5174 (SD40-2) / CR 6332 (SD40-2)

6) ATSF switch job - gypsum spur - 2252 (GP9) / ???? (unknown)

7) UP w/b interchange to ATSF - UP 4244 (SD40-2 / 4092 (SD40-2)

8) UP w/b local - UP 228 (B30-7A)

9) ATSF w/b freight - 5149 (SD40-2) / 5070 (SD40-2/ ???? (unknown)

10) ATSF w/b freight - 3438 (GP39-2) / 5362 (SD45) / 2903 (GP35) / 6407 (B23-7)

5) ATSF e/b at Tecific - 5174 / CR 6332 / 8748 (U36C)/ 5973 (SDF45 - Kodachrome)

8) UP w/b leaving Sweetwater - UP 4244 / 4092 / 228

Next report will be on or about March 4.

WSC

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...