25-04-10 PHOTOS: Dallas Streetcar

Spring means that it is once again time for my annual trip to Dallas and after my failed attempt to use the Denton A-Train in 2024, I set a much more modest goal of riding the Dallas Streetcar between Union Station and the Bishop Arts District. This service has been operating since 2015, but I had yet to ever ride it despite having been in close proximity to the northern terminus on several occasions. In addition to the streetcar I caught quite a bit of freight action on the adjacent Dallas Subdivision as well as that day's southbound Texas Eagle arrival. 

As usual I caught DART in from Dallas Love Field with Super LRV #225 at the Love Field transfer station and a wrapped #192 at Pearl Arts District. Despite being in the South, Dallas has no fewer than 3 arts and entertainment districts. 

Later arriving at Dallas Union Station I was in time to catch an eastbound BNSF manifest freight with C44-9W #4360 leading and ES44C4 #7125 behind.

This aligned with the arrival of an eastbound 3-car TRE train from Fort Worth with Bomber cab car #1004 leading and F59PH #124 on the rear. This train pulled in on track #3, next to F59PHI #569 which was already tied down on track #4.

Before I could leave for the streetcar, a westbound Union Pacific intermodal train featuring 5 road units up front including SD70ACe #8910, C44ACMs #6923 and #6542, ES44AC #2538 and AC4400 #6145.

SThe Dallas Streetcar is one of the several examples of "new urban streetcars" that popped up in the 2010's in cities as diverse as Seattle, Atlanta, Washington DC and Kansas City. The Dallas Streetcar makes use of the Brookville Liberty Modern Streetcar for rolling stock. Here we see Dallas Streercar #303 laying over at the Union Station terminal with the Reunion Center Whig Sphere in the background.

20-02-27 PHOTOS: Garland Crossing - Part 2

Part 2 of my 2020 trip to Dallas will stay in the Union Station area where DART, Amtrak, Union Pacific, BNSF and DGNO train all converge. If you missed Part 1 you can find it here. Unlike many other cities, trackside access to this downtown corridor is particularly good with the only real limitation being the angle of the sun. Over my time in the city I generally moved from Tower 106 in the west to Tower 107 in the east.  As before the entire set of photos can be found here (mirror).

 We begin in the parking lot out before TOWER 106 adjacent to the DART Wye that funnels the lines to the south and west through the downtown corridor.  Here we see inbound and outbound Blue Line trains with LRV's #242 and 192 respectively.

I was lucky enough to just happen upon the westbound departure of Amtrak Train 21, the Texas Eagle.  Today the power was provided by P42DC #132.  The Eagle had finally been shifted to the TRE route between Dallas and Ft Worth, saving both travel time as well as the delays from UP freight trains such as the eastbound movement moving through JFK Junction at the end of the video with AC4460CW #7021 and newly rebuilt C44ACM #6154. It was not uncommon for Trains 20 and 21 to loose up to an hour between Dallas and Fort Worth due to Dallas Sub congestion.

TOWER 106 is located behind the Texas School Book Depository building and in 1963 the operator was involved in the investigation into the presence of a second gunman on the grassy knoll.

DART LRV #206 crossing the Commerce St bridge on an inbound Red Line routing.

A scheduled TRE commuter train departed Union Station en route to Fort Worth led by F59 #122 and trailed by Bomber cab car #1003.

The Federal Courthouse disrupts the trackside walkway.  While I was bypassing the property a UP freight train passed by with ES44AC #7951.

Back to Union Station here is an DART LRV #214 on an indeterminate routing.

A TRE trainset laying over at Union Station with cab car #1008.

The Denver Garland and Northern short line train I had previously spotted working the TRE line west of downtown, now showed up making its move through the Union Station complex to reach home tracks east of the old Reunion Center complex. Power consisted of SD40-2 #3418 on point and SD40M-2, a rebuilt SD45, #3418 behind.

19-03-28 PHOTOS: Texas Eagle - Part 2

If you tuned in for Part 1 of my March 2019 Texas Eagle trip, here is the continuation starting at Longview and proceeding on to my destination of Dallas, TX. This part of the Texas Eagle route runs over the formerly Missouri Pacific controlled, Texas and Pacific line, now operated by Union Pacific (which apparently bought every railroad with "Pacific" in its name). In case you forgot, the full set of photos can be found here (mirror).


Longview,TX is the last smoke stop before Dallas and features a UP yard and administrative hub. By this point in the journey my train was running about 2-3 hours late, but that would ensure that I got lunch on board as normally it is served between Dallas and Fort Worth. Apart from meals I was positioned in Superliner I coach #34039, which can be easily identified as a "I" due to the German-built trucks.

Waiting to depart the west end of the yard was a train with UP AC4400 #5889 and SD70ACe #8452.

A few miles outside of Longview we hit a bit of a traffic jam with a UP mixed freight led by SD70M #5039 and SD70ACe #8815 tucked into the Greggton siding along with a local powered by GMTX GP38-2 #2653, UP GP38-2 #520 and Up GP40N #1437.

Another Up freight headed by SD70M #4895, ES44AC #7876 and a second SD70M was waiting in the Gladewater siding. 

I decided to break for lunch just past the former Southern Pacific diamond at Big Sandy.

I returned in time to pass by the town of Wills Point which features a brick paved main drag.

In the Will Point siding was another mixed freight led by UP SD70M #3893 and CSX C40-10W #5384. UP was doing a pretty good job of getting the freight movements out of the way, but we were delayed in a siding for another 30-45 minutes while I was at lunch.

19-03-28 PHOTOS: Texas Eagle - Part 1

Of all of Amtrak's "western" long distance trains, the Texas Eagle is probably the second most bland, in terms of scenery, behind only the City of New Orleans. The only scenic part of the trip, through the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas, takes place at night in both directions of travel. My westbound Texas Eagle, despite being between 60 and 90 minutes late, had just departed Texarkana when I finally finished up breakfast in the dining car and started my work for the day. South of St. Louis the Eagle runs on former Missouri Pacific territory and within the State of Texas this means a single track with passing sidings, lots of pine trees and more than a few swamps. Still it was an interesting journey with more than a few classic signals still in service and a healthy amount of Union Pacific freight traffic.

You can find the full set of photos here (mirror), but I am going to be splitting this up into two parts with Part 1 covering Texarkana to Longview and Part 2 Longview to Dallas.

Crossing the KCS Diamond south of Texarkana it was only about 90 miles to Longview and, despite our lateness, the dispatcher had done a good job clearing opposing traffic into various passing sidings. The first of these was a train of autoracks hauled by UP ES44AH #8169 and AC4400 #7187 sitting in the Sulphur siding.

We were all set of a quick dash to Longview when the engineer slammed on the brakes and stopped short of a random red flag placed by the side of the right of way by persons unknown. Calls to the dispatcher could not ascertain who placed the flag and it took over an hour to resolve the issue as nobody wanted to run afoul of what could be an FRA rule compliance test. Although an MoW crew was nearby, the flag resembled something used by a local freight to protect crossings or mark the end of a train. 

Classic MoPac signals and relay huts were sprinkled around such as at the south end of the Springdale siding.

The hour delay on the main had forced opposing traffic to pull off into sidings and because the delay was the fault of UP and not Amtrak I suspect the dispatcher was told to give us clear track as much as possible. The first train we passed was led by UP SD70ACe #8844, NS C44-10W #7700 and UP GP40N #1575 on the Queen City siding.

The old MoPac station in Atlanta Texas.

Another northbound train in the Bivins siding with UP ET44AC #6314 and CSX ES44AH #3021 leading a merchandise train.

16-08-09 PHOTOS: Austin City Limits

Known by many as the only civilized city in Texas, Austin is a cultural hub and home to the University of Texas. However, when it comes to rail transportation, Austin finds itself somewhat lacking compared to other megalopolises such as Huston and Dallas-Ft. Worth. To this end Auston looked to supplement its Amtrak station and network of bike routes with one of those newfangled, European style light commuter rail lines and on a recent trip to the city for a conference I got to try it out. You can locate all the photos about that and the heavy rail action here.


Austin's Capitol MetroRail is a 9 stop commuter line using 6 FRA "compliant" Stadler GTW railcars. Fare collection is a typical proof of payment affair with two fare zones and a $7 day pass. Service terminates at a downtown station across from the convention centre that's actually about 4 blocks from the true downtown and a few more from the Texas state capitol complex. Here car #103 lays over at the aptly named "Downtown" station.

Only two vehicles are needed for the 1+ hour mid-day service frequency. The trains pass at the Kramer station, which is also used as a crew relief point. As you can see there is a minimally acceptable railfan view. 

Mid-day service terminates at the Lakeline station, with peak period trains continuing to Leander. This is likely necessary to make the two vehicle load line work. The service is contracted to Herzog Transportation Services. 

The maintenance depot and yard is located mid-way along the line at Serta. This is where most of the fleet, including #106 here, hangs out during the day.

Normally I wouldn't have many serious complaints about a low cost commuter rail starter line, however the whole CapitolMetro is rendered useless by a 40mph top speed, even in the cross country portions away from downtown Austin (where the speed drops to between 10 and 25mph). The RoW is not particularly curvy and is also fully signaled, so I'm not sure what their excuse is beyond not wanting to upgrade the former freight line it runs on to anything above Class 2 standards. Compared to the NJT RiverLINE, which would like to increase its speeds to 70mph, CapitolMetro is simply a joke. To illustrate the point, here is 4 minutes of side-video taken between Howard and Kramer.



#103 back again at downtown. Platforms are of the low, level boarding type.

#103 departing downtown on another run to Lakeline.

Austin's only heavy rail action comes on the aptly named Union Pacific Austin Sub, which is a single track line snaking its way up from San Antonio. Here UP ES44AC #8226 and SD70MAC #5192 roll by the iconic Austin City Power Plant with a merchandise train in tow.