17-03-23 PHOTOS: Dallas-Fort Worth

Ten years ago I traveled to Dallas-Ft. Worth and was shocked to see that the region had an extensive rail transportation network, since typically public transportation in Texas consists of hopping into the bed of a passing pickup truck. Although in 2017 I had much less time to explore the system, I did manage to squeeze in a ride between both cores of the metroplex on the Trinity Rail Express commuter line in addition to a short DART trip from Luv Field. While in Fort Worth I also managed to pay a visit to the famous Tower 55, the busiest at-grade rail crossing in the United States.

You can find all the photos here.

Traveling on the DART Green Line to get to Union Station is not as simple as it sounds. Neither of the two "new" DART lines (Green and Orange) serve Union Station directly and require a change of train at West End. The DART LRV's have been expanded with a new center section, however they kept their classic analogue rollsigns in the rebuild process. Here Green Line LRV #186 departs West End inbound.

Here inbound Blue Line DART LRV #238 enters Union Station. The square sealed beam headlights and American designed Tomlinson coupler just scream 1980's tech.

The Dallas Union Station sits adjacent to the Hyatt hotel and convention center, which, for security reasons, has been equipped with some sort of adaptive camouflage. Attached is also Dallas' very own version of the Knoxville Whigsphere, which I have to assume holds thousands of boxes of unsold cowboy hats.

Two TRE trains sit side-by-side at Dallas Union Station with former GO Transit F59PHs #125 and #120 as power. TRE runs full trips between Dallas and Fort Worth as well as short turns to Centreporte and West Irving, which sit upon either end of the yard. F59PH #120 was pulling out short turn train #2525 toward West Irving.

As I waited for my train to Fort Worth to depart I noticed a Diverging Clear signal pulled up at JFK JCT and soon enough a westbound Union Pacific doublestack train rounded the bend with ET44AH #2695 and ES44AC #8033 coupled elephant style.

DART Red Line LRV #159 at Union Station. DART uses Union Station tracks 1 and 2, TRE tracks 3 and 4 and Amtrak's Texas Eagle uses track 5.

TRE Bomber Coffin Cab Car #1004 on track 4 at Union Station. After retiring their fleer of RDC's, TRE makes exclusive use of octagonal GO Coaches.