"Old School" Ft. Worth & Western

FWWR 2473 - September 1993 Southwest Shorts - home of the most extensive Ft Worth and Western
pages on the 'net! FWWR 1500 on Tarantula train

"Old School" Ft Worth & Western

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Ft Worth & Western began operations in 1988 on trackage acquired from Ft. Worth class 1 roads Union Pacific and Burlington Northern. The railroad has since added a former Cotton Belt branch between Ft. Worth and Carrollton, and more recently, acquired the former Santa Fe Dublin Sub (from Ft. Worth to Ricker, near Brownwood) from South Orient in 1999.

FWWR began service with just one diesel locomotive, former ATSF CF7 2473. Next to arrive were two GP7s, the 4299 and the 1500. FWWR acquired six GP7s from South Orient (#s 101-106) when it purchased the Dublin Sub, and in mid-1999 FWWR took delivery of three ex-CP GP35s - numbered 5004, 5007, and 5020. As of September 2000, all the units are still on the FWWR roster except for the CF7. All except the six ex-South Orient geeps are painted in FWWR's blue and yellow scheme.

I'm entitling this page "Old School Ft Worth & Western" because this is the way the FWWR used to look. The following seven photographs represent the Ft. Worth & Western of the early and mid-'90's, before the road ditched its navy blue paint scheme featuring the Tarantula mascot and adpoted its current blue-and-yellow paint scheme.

Please click on any of the following pictures to see a larger image:

	Ft Worth & Western's first locomotive, ex-ATSF CF7 2473, works near the Ft Worth Stockyards at NE 23rd St. on September 24, 1993.
	Ft. Worth & Western CF7 2473 was FWWR's only locomotive to display the road's tarantula mascot. Here's a close-up view of "Cahoots", properly attired in safety boots, bib overalls, and gloves, on the nose of the 2473 on September 24, 1993. Why Cahoots -- allegedly a tarantula spider -- sports only six appendages instead of the traditional eight, remains a mystery.
	The date is September 27, 1993, as Ft Worth & Western CF7 2473 switches an industry near the Ft. Worth Stockyards, while a westbound Santa Fe freight awaits a signal to pass through the Tower 60 interlocking.
	Following the departure of CF7 2473 from FWWR property, FWWR 4299, an ex-CNW GP7, became a common sight around Ft Worth. FWWR 4299 does some industry work near downtown Ft Worth, on trackage adjacent to UP's Dallas Sub between Tower 55 and Centennial Yard on November 19, 1995.
	Ft Worth & Western 4299 displays its original navy blue paint scheme (with the Cahoots mascot conspicuously absent) at the Ft Worth Stockyards on November 24, 1995. This locomotive has since been repainted… to see shots of it in FWWR's blue and yellow scheme, check out the FWWR blue and yellow index.
	Ft Worth & Western 4299 does some switching near the Ft Worth Stockyards on November 24, 1995.
	In 1996, Ft Worth & Western's expanding traffic base forced the railroad to go shopping for some extra power to supplement the 4299. Help arrived in the form of GP7 1500, illustrated here on a Tarantula passenger train operating between Grapevine and the Ft Worth Stockyards on December 10, 1996. This paint scheme, which appears to have been a VMV / " Paducah-bilt" application, did not last long on the FWWR; the unit was soon repainted in FWWR's blue and yellow scheme.

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