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. 

Heading west from Union Station, TRE and DART run parallel resulting in the occasional race.



TRE's signature fleet of 13 Budd RDC's was purchased from VIA in 1993 and rebuilt by Alsthom for continued service. Slowly replaced by successive orders of Bomber coaches, they last ran in regular TRE service in 2009. The fleet is now for sale, with some units already going to Vermont for a proposed rail service there.

TRE trainset with F59PH #121 in the Irving yard. TRE has 9 locomotives and 25 coaches.

TRE has double tracked much of its route between Dallas and Fort Worth with only a few single track segments remaining, mostly over bridges and some longer ones near Fort Worth. 10 years ago most mid-day trains stopped at the CentrePorte/DFW station, with Ft. Worth being a mostly peak-period service. Today, the vast majority of trains run end to end with an hourly mid-day schedule along with Amtrak's Texas Eagle, which fled the congested UP Dallas Sub.

Service terminates at the Texas and Pacific station in downtown Ft. Worth. The exterior and former passenger areas of the Art Deco station have been restored. TRE utilizes a two-track stub platform on a fraction of the former station's footprint. 

Tower 55 is purportedly the busiest at-grade rail junction in North America. A 3x2 diamond crossing of the UP Choctaw and Dallas subdivisions, connections are provided between each of the corners in addition to the typical plethora of approach crossovers. The crossing was actually expanded from its original 2x2 configuration, due to the increase in traffic. The tower was closed years ago, but still stands for CnS use.

Train traffic through the site is pretty much non-stop.



The force is strong with this one :-)

UP AC4400 #5587 was standing west of the interlocking in what was possibly a DPU role.

UP ES44AC #7495 rolls westbound through the complex on the Dallas Sub with a pair of SD70M's, #4560 and #4677, behind and a second ES44AC, #8216, in the 4 position. 

The westbound movement moves through the eastern end of the plant and passes eastbound UP AC4400 #5423.

BNSF traffic moves north and south through the Tower 55 crossing on trackage rights. Here C44-9W #703 leads a northbound train past the tower.

Amtrak P42DC #113 and Superliner coach #34010 were serving as protect equipment for the Heartland Flyer service that runs daily between Forth Worth and Oklahoma City. 

The old ATSF Fort Worth station and division offices have been repurposed into an event venue and community college respectively.

On an adjacent track north of the crossing, BNSF warbonnet C44-9W #746 stood idling, waiting for its turn to cross in the middle of a lashup. 

UP AC4400 #6697 at the head of a train waiting north of the Tower 55 crossing. 

 The Fort Worth Transportation Center serves TRE, Amtrak and both local and long distances buses.

TRE F59PHI #570 emerging from the famous "building tunnel", just east of the Transportation Center. 

An old North Texas Transportation interurban car is on display at the station.

Here are the ticket window and waiting room inside the station, which dates from 2001.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the show. Time we're off to a different kind of show...the Circus!