Half a Lifetime Ago

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Friday evening eastbound

February 16, 1990

On a Friday evening, I caught an eastbound heading toward San Angelo from Fort Stockton.

Santa Fe eastbound approaching San Angelo, TX. Feb 16, 1990.

1) ATSF e/b - 2215 (GP7) / 3420 (GP39-2) / 2074 (GP7)

Next report will be on or about February 23...

WSC

Thursday, February 14, 2008

February 11, 1990

A photo from a weekend ski trip to Ruidoso NM with Mom, Dad, and girlfriend "H". H and I had been dating for close to a year at this point. This may have been her first time on skis. It didn't go so well.

More fun than our time on the slopes - enjoying the scenery at Inn of the Mountain Gods

Next report will be on or about February 16...

WSC

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Brownwood & San Angelo - February 3

February 3, 1990 : Brownwood and back

I joined a few of my fellow Key Clubbers for a trip to Brownwood for "Spring Rally", a one-day mini leadership conference and community service idea brainstorming session with the San Angelo and Brownwood Key Club chapters.

Me & Natasha at Spring Rally

On our way back to San Angelo, we overtook the Sunday local from Brownwood. After we got back to town, I headed out to the yard to take a few photos.

GP39-2 # 3426 - San Angelo, TX

ATSF 3426 builder's plate

GP30 # 2763 - San Angelo TX

Even way back then I was photographing boxcar scrawls.

ATSF power on hand at San Angelo yard - 2763 (GP30) / 2095 (GP7) / 2814 (GP35 - Kodachrome) / 2708 (GP30) / 3426 (GP39-2)

The next report will be on or about February 10, re-capping a weekend ski trip to New Mexico. Until then...

WSC

Saturday, January 26, 2008

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

Friday, January 18, 2008

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

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...