19-03-31 PHOTOS: Dallas Reunion

Dallas has a surprisingly diverse rail transportation scene including Amtrak, TRE commuter rail, DART light rail, a streetcar and a major Union Pacific freight line, and all of these can be photographed in and around Dallas Union Station. Since for this particular Dallas excursion I was staying in the hotel across from Union Station I didn't see the need to really go on any excursions as I had in past years going to Fort Worth or the various DART destinations. You can find all of the photos here (mirror).

We begin with TRE F59PJI #570, which I believe was purchased new from EMD as opposed to second hand from GO as was the case with its other F59PH locomotives.

Union Station is served by the DART Red and Blue lines.  These were the original two lines with the Green and Orange, which take the other split of the Victory Wye, having been built some time later.  There is currently no "crosstown" service between Green/Orange and Red/Blue requiring a transfer at the West End station for such points.  Here we see a Blue Line train with LRV #111 and a Red Line train with LRV #257.

Of course I had taken plenty of photos at Union Station last year so for 2019 I relocated a few blocks to the east where the Reunion Arena (home of the Dallas Stars and Mavericks) used to be.  This location provided great angles of the same rail lines that passes through Union Station with with less clutter.  Here we see a Blue Line train with LRV #220 and a Red Line train with LRV #192.

In addition the location provided the occasional glimpse of the Dallas Streetcar as is runs along the Houston Street Viaduct. This tram line connects downtown to the Bishop Arts District.  If you are wondering about the lack of overhead wire, the streetcars have a battery backup to run over the viaduct where trolley wire was unable to be installed.

 On this particular day the westbound Texas Eagle was again about 3 hours late, but it made it possible to catch both eastbound and eastbound Eagles without having to make two trips.  The westbound showed up first with Amtrak P42DC #59, seen here ducking under the Houston Street Viaduct that appears to gave been specifically notched out for high clearance cars.

End of Train 21 being passed by DART LRV #185.

UP MoW ballast tamper on the old private car siding with the Reunion Tower in the background.

Although freight congestion is a major problem for the Texas Eagle, I had just missed the only freight that passed through the area for the hour or so I was out on patrol. Here we see the end of train passing through REUNION interlocking, just pass the overbuild for the Dallas Convention Center.

DART LRV #197  passing in front of the preserved TOWER 107, which now serves as some sort of DART communications base.

Soon enough the eastbound Texas Eagle (Train #22) showed up with P42DC's #136 and #56.

Looks like I wasn't the only railfan out this day.  Not sure if this guy was on the train or a local who came out for the occasion. 

Unfortunately a homeless guy living under the bridge thought I was on hand to spy on him or something, but I wasn't about to let myself get run off like some tetchy suburbanite so I did what I could to make small talk while I waited for Train 22 to depart.  Probably not the smartest move, but I didn't get murdered or robbed so it looks like my number turned up.

Here we see Train 22 departing Dallas Union Station, Houston Street and the Reunion Tower in the background.

The adjacent REUNION interlocking had a number of interesting signals from the 1980's, most produced by the L&W company of Missouri, which is still a niche signal manufacturer today.

Well here is the sun setting on another Amtrak long distance trip.  Not sure when I'll be going on another one, but I'm certainly not going to ride everything except the City of New Orleans ;-)

Tune in next week for some local color as I check out NS's improvements to what they are now calling the Reybold Branch, in Delaware.