| News Archive - February / March 2000 |
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Thursday, March 30, 2000
Between taking care of crucial spring yard work and dodging Texas tornadoes, it seems I've
hardly had time for any railfanning. Then again, running this site takes some time too.
I've only been out shooting one day the entire month of
March, and that was a half-assed effort at getting some BNSF stuff on a day when every move I
made ended up being the wrong one. But I digress...
The tornadoes that tore through west Ft Worth and south Arlington on Tuesday evening
graciously spared my home on
the north side of town from any damage. My thoughts and prayers go out to those who were not
as fortunate. As for the railroads, I have heard no reports of any damage to any of the area
lines or their trains. Possibly some debris on the tracks of the Ft Worth & Western in the
Trinity Park area not far from where the Ft Worth tornado hit.
Area news...Louisiana & North West is preparing to ship its two F7As from Gibsland,
Louisiana to California. F7s
# 45 and 46 are destined for the Golden Gate Railroad Museum in San Francisco, and have
reportedly already been re-lettered and re-numbered as " GGMX 6378 " and " GGMX 6380
". They MIGHT be shipped out of Gibsland sometime this week, as reported by
Roger D. West on the Railspot list.
Site news...my WTJR page is up, and with that, I'm out of scanned slides to post until I get
a new batch back. Expect a break of at least two weeks. I will continue to update the
News page once or twice a week in the meantime. Thanks to Dan Furtado ( of " Dan's Wig-
Wag" fame -- it's not as dirty as it sounds...here, check out his website:
Dan's Wig-Wag
Site)...anyway, thanks to Dan
for adding a link to this site on his links page. The reason I haven't done more promoting of
this site is I feel that Southwest Shorts isn't quite ready for " wide release "
yet...passing out the url
right now is sort of like letting someone look under a cover at a not-quite-finished model
or project, but I don't mind letting people have a peek. Hell, Trainweb is listing this on
their " What's New " page so let's face it, I'm going to have a few visitors. I'll do
plenty of shameless plugging on Trainorders and on the Railspot list and elsewhere once I get
my South Orient pages up...then I'll really have something to show everyone!
Until then...
WSC
Monday, March 27, 2000
Just some minor site news today...have added two more shots to the Southwestern page, bringing
the total to ten images there. I am working on a page on the Wichita Tillman & Jackson,
which should be up in the next two or three days.
I hope to add pages on the Santa Fe Southern, AT&L, and Pecos Valley Southern in April.
Watch for my South Orient pages in May, and watch out 'cause they will be BIG! Probably at
least 60 images, broken down into five or six categories. I'm pretty sure it will be the
biggest collection of South Orient stuff on the 'net.
I hope to add some stuff to the Obscurites page sometime in the next couple months too, so
Ft Worth & Western and Dallas Garland & Northeastern may have to wait a little while.
Besides, their logos look so cute on my home page under the "coming in the not-too-distant
future" header.
WSC
Saturday, March 18, 2000
Trainweb, here we come! Instead of drinking green beer last night, I spent some time
figuring out how to download .html and .jpg files to Trainweb's server using an FTP program.
Not much to it, once you get the hang of it. I would like to take this opportunity to thank
Stephen Grande and the good folks at Trainweb for agreeing to host this site...I'll try to
make you guys proud and not embarrass you too much, ok?
The move to Trainweb means a couple of things...first, more space for pictures. I will be
adding a bunch in the next few months. Second, I will no longer be maintaining my site at
the Charter@Home account. I will modify the home page with a link directing users to the
Trainweb site, but don't expect to see any maintenance on the pages at the @Home account. In
time, they will be deleted; maybe I will end up using my webspace there for another project.
Local news...On Wednesday, March 15, Coe Rail, the operator of the Tarantula passenger
train that runs between Ft Worth and Grapevine, ran its passenger train into a Ft Worth &
Western freight working south of the Ft Worth Stockyards. It seems that a switch engine had
shoved a string of tank cars out on to the main line from an industry, and that the switch crew
thought the passenger train was farther away than it was. The Coe passenger train crew had not
turned their engine on the wye at Belt Jct but instead had just run around the train at 8th
Avenue, which resulted in them running F7 # 407 backwards from 8th Avenue back to
the Stockyards. When they came around a blind curve approaching the stockyards, they ran into
the string of tanks. While the combined speed of the two trains was something in the
neighborhood of 12 mph (as reported by the media),
several passengers sustained minor injuries. The newspapers reported
that 11 people were taken to area hospitals; all had been released by Thursday. It is important
to note that FWWR runs this portion of its railroad as restricted limits, meaning that all
trains are to operate at restricted speed, i.e., a speed that allows stopping within one half
the range of vision short of train, engine, railroad car, men or machines fouling the track,
derail or switch lined improperly, or stop signal. It would appear that one or both crews
are guilty of not complying with the restricted speed rule in this case.
There was some pretty spectacular media coverage (photos and video taken from news helicopters)
of the wreck, which showed the F7 and one of the tankers leaning off the tracks at a 45-degree
angle after the collision. The incident certainly does not reflect favorably on Coe Rail, the
passenger train's operator, who has gained local notoriety in recent months due to the
resignation of several of their engineers and conductors following their takeover of passenger
operations from FWWR. It looks like F7 407 will be out of service for some time while it
undergoes repairs; meanwhile, the passenger train continues to run, powered by a borrowed
FWWR diesel.
In Sulphur Springs, Nathan Bailey reports on Railspot that Blacklands RR has begun restoration
of its ex-Reader RR 2-6-2 steam locomotive. Nathan reports that the steamer's boiler tubes
and flue sheets are being removed in preparation for the cleaning of the firebox and boiler;
Southwest Steam Locomotive, a Ft Worth company that specializes in these types of renovations,
is doing the work.
Down south, get ready for some fireworks as Capital Metro prepares to evict Longhorn railway
from its ex-SP lines north of Austin. (See March 11 news for details).
Interestingly, PREX GP20s 2018 / 2041 / 2047 (ex- Santa Fe units) reportedly have arrived
at the Longhorn just in time for the eviction! Joe Enochs reported on Railspot that Econorail
had two geeps positioned nearby at Taylor to be brought in once they had kicked the Longhorn
guys off the property. Stay tuned...
WSC
Saturday, March 11, 2000
Finally, some pages. If you've noticed, or even if you haven't, I added pages
on the Southwestern Railroad; the Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific; and the Gulf, Colorado & San
Saba. Just with these few photographs, my allocated "free" webspace at Charter@home is
about 80% depleted. So it looks like this site will be moving soon.
Texas news...the past week has not been without its excitement. In west Texas, South Orient
continues to look for a new operator. According to an article which appeared on my san
antonio.com on March 4, Grupo Mexico, the majority owner of Ferromex, is negotiating to buy
South Orient's trackage between San Angelo and Presidio.
Down south, Capital Metro, owner of a 162-mile ex-SP line between Giddings and Llano,
is kicking the Longhorn Railroad off its property! Capital Metro is essentially charging
Longhorn, the line's operator, with a breach of contract, alleging that Longhorn has failed to
properly maintain the line, and has failed to present business records and pay taxes in a
timely manner. Longhorn President Don Cheatham denies all charges, and is protesting the
termination of the contract. Sounds like he'd better get himself a good lawyer; Capital Metro
wants Longhorn off the property by March 22!
Here in the metroplex, it's possible that FWWR may soon be hosting some BNSF traffic between
Hodge (north Ft Worth) and Carrollton when DART assumes full control of the BNSF DFW Sub later
this year. The DFW Sub will continue to see increases in commuter rail traffic in the coming
years (including eventual Dallas - Ft Worth trains), meaning that track space will be at a
premium.
Finally, two ex-South Orient GP9s (the high-nose ex-DRGW GP9s in the gray, red, and yellow
scheme) are waybilled to move from the TXOR at Sweetwater to the Gulf, Colorado & San Saba
at Lometa.
That's all for now. It's entirely possible that this site will be moving soon. But, if
you're reading this, you found me. More later...
WSC
Saturday, March 4, 2000
I was in New Mexico from February 22 though March 1. We had gone there attempting
to go skiing, but Ski Apache at Ruidoso only had a 14-26 inch base. Nothing like
spending 40 bucks on a lift ticket to ski six runs...having experienced better skiing there
in years past, I elected to go out and take pictures instead.
On Feb. 23, after catching four UP trains in an hour at Carrizozo, I spent the afternoon
on the BNSF El Paso Sub...one of the territories I dispatch. I was fortunate to catch two
warbonnet GP60Ms on the westbound LNMX0041, the Belen - Rincon local, and even more fortunate
to catch two warbonnet C44-9Ws on the westbound MBELELP. All the power was fairly clean, and
all were "pure" Santa Fe units, no BNSF lettering. It's always nice to be able to
photograph a good-looking train on my own territory.
On Feb. 25-26, I dragged the "Mrs." up to Santa Fe to do some shopping, dining, and, oh
yeah, catch the Santa Fe Southern. They ran two trains that Saturday, and we followed the
first one from Santa Fe to Lamy. They were running with GP7 93 long-hood forward. While I
would have preferred some more traditional short-hood forward shots, the train still looked
ok. They departed Santa Fe with one boxcar and 3 passenger cars, and picked up 2 more boxes on
line, arriving at Lamy with a total of six cars. They did not pick up at Lamy, and departed
there with just the 3 passenger cars, and fortunately, the locomotive running frontwards
instead of backwards. We stuck around after that long enough to catch Amtrak trains 3 and
4 (both running on time) meeting in front of the depot at Lamy.
I spent Sunday on the BNSF in Abo Canyon, roughly from sunrise to sunset, catching 34 trains
in 10 1/2 hours. While an average of a train every 20 minutes was damned impressive, the
hodgepodge of locomotive paint schemes was not. I was disappointed to only catch 2 or 3
matched locomotive consists the entire day, and I was more or less out of position (hiking
between photo spots) when I caught them.
Texas news...Nathan Bailey reported on Railspot that the Blacklands Railroad ran a 116-car
empty coal train from Sulphur Springs to Commerce yesterday (March 3). Apparently, the
train came out of the TXU Monticello plant and is being stored at Commerce. This was
evidently the longest train over these tracks in many, many years...Nathan reported that the
train's power was Garden City Western GP8 201 / Magma Alco RS3 # 2/ Midwest Metallic GP7
4156.
Also, I failed to mention it above, but I caught Texas & Oklahoma GP9 56 at Sweetwater on
the way out to New Mexico last Tuesday. This high-nose unit has been painted in an
attractive blue-and-silver scheme...I do not know if it is one of the ex-South Orient high-nose
units or not. Also on hand was an ex-BN SD9, the 6183. The T&O operates a portion of the
ex-KCM&O line between Sweetwater and Maryneal. The power can often be found west of
Sweetwater, about a half mile south of where I-20 crosses over the tracks. The US Gypsum
plant east of Sweetwater currently has one of the ex-South Orient high-nose geeps on hand.
Site news...I added a page on the Texas Gonzales & Northern today...3 shots from a visit
there in May of 1999. When completed, most of my pages on shortlines will resemble this page.
A few photographs (or as many presentable ones as I have), some captions, and some brief
information on the railroad. Coming soon will be pages on the WTJ, Southwestern, and the
Longhorn. Probably a few other smaller ones as well.
More later ...
WSC
Monday,
February 21, 2000
Monday, February 14, 2000
Just a quick update here...I'm adding the first photo page (Obscurities) presently featuring
just one image. I will be taking some slides to WalMart soon for conversion to .pcd (picture
cd) files. I have had good results with this in the past, unlike Charles Biel, who complains
that WalMart refuses to scan some of the slides he brings them on the basis that they are
trying to avoid copyright infringement. Oh well, I hope to purchase a good slide scanner soon,
which hopefully will mean I won't have to set foot near a Super WalMart in the near future, at
least until they follow through on their threats to build the one just down the street. I have a
flatbed scanner (HP ScanJet 6300C) with a slide adaptor, but the quality of scans from slides
is not what I was looking for. I could post stuff from it, but I'd just be wasting your time.
Sunday, February 13, 2000
Welcome to the first news update of Southwest Shorts. Even though no one is reading this yet, this is an historic event for a couple of
reasons. This is my first news update on my first "REAL" website. I actually managed to successfully load a picture of Wichita Tillman
and Jackson GP7 4443 on to this site yesterday. I am just beginning to learn HTML, and it will be some time before the features and functions
of this site improve dramatically. You know, ya gotta start somewhere. As far as "firsts" go, this is mine.
Wow, is it Monday again already? Went out yesterday in the a.m. to catch BNSF's Roadrailer,
the QKCKFTW1-19 running with just one unit, the BNSF 3182, a repainted GP50. I'm always into
catching the Roadrailers when they run with just a single motor, especially if it's a pumpkin.
Got him in 5 spots between Krum and Saginaw, with only minor interference from the clouds.
Later on, I was in Grapevine ATTEMPTING to buy some Kodachrome 64 film at Target and went by
the Grapevine depot in time to catch the Sunday Tarantula train leaving behind the Ft Worth
& Western 1500, running long-hood forward. Both of the Bondo Flyer's F-units were parked with
the dinner train.
Did I mention something about film? Well, I leave Tuesday to take a week's vacation in New
Mexico, and like an idiot I realized Saturday I only have 15 rolls of film, and, like even more
of an idiot, I blasted through about 3 of them yesterday. So I went to Target in Grapevine, hoping
that I could scrounge up enough Kodachrome 64 (no longer my film of choice, but still sufficient in
a "pinch")to get me through my trip. Wouldn't you know it, the bastards are completely sold out. I could have
walked out of there with 20 rolls of Kodachrome 200, but NO Kodachrome 64. I guess I
know where not to shop the next time I need some film. But wait, it gets better...I went
to Wolf Camera next, and was flabbergasted to discover how expensive their slide film is.
Now, I've always considered $7.99 (Target's current price for a roll of K64, 36 exp.) to be
a bit on the high side but get this: Wolf is selling Kodachrome 64 for $9.99 a roll! That's also
their price for Fujichrome Astia 100, double what you would pay by mail order from Adorama. I'm embarrassed
to say I bought 3 rolls. The cashier neglected to offer me a much-needed jar of Vaseline.
But it might almost be worth it next week when I'm shooting on the Santa Fe Southern,
or my 254th BNSF train through Abo Canyon. Next time, I'll have to remember to get off my lazy
hind end and mail-order some film earlier than two days before the start of my trip.
Will post another update next week when I get back, and hope to have some new photos to post
soon after.
WSC
Oh yeah, don't expect a news update every day or anything. It will probably be more like once
a week. Last time, WalMart took about two weeks to get a photo cd to me with my slides on
it, so we'll see how this one goes. Check back about the end of the first week of March. In
the meantime, I'll be tinkering with the format of the site, continuing my adventures on the
"road to learning" HTML.
Later -
WSC
In case you missed it on the way in, my name is Wes Carr. I grew up in west Texas, in San Angelo, near Santa Fe's ex-KCM&O line to
Ft Stockton and Presidio. This line became part of the South Orient in 1992.
I've been interested in railroads and trains since I was very young. Living near a sporadically-trafficked branch line probably
"fueled the fire" as much as anything else...the tracks behind my neighborhood hosted maybe 3 to 6 trains a week under Santa Fe
ownership during the 80's...when my friends and I were out riding our dirtbikes near the tracks, it was always a real treat to see a train run
past, definitely an unusual occurrence! And I was interested in them from the very beginning.
This site is coming to you from Fort Worth, Texas, which is my place of residence. Ft. Worth is home of the Ft Worth Brahmas of the
Western Professional Hockey League, and also home of the BNSF NOC (Network Operations Center), where I am employed as a train
dispatcher. As a result of my location, this site will contain lots of information on Texas (especially the greater Dallas / Ft Worth
"Metroplex," as it were) and surrounding states. Just for the sake of argument, I will consider Arkansas and Louisiana to be
part of the "Southwest" (they are west of the Mississippi, well most of Louisiana is) so I will cover their railroads as well
as Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. LA and AR may be a long time coming though...the only shortline stuff I have
pertaining to either of them is shots of the Arkansas & Missouri from three separate trips, and a little bit of De Queen & Eastern.
The other states will be easier to feature, since I've got more material.
You will find news about shortline railroads (and also the major roads) here, but you will also find news relating to the operation
of this site, and any other explanations or information which I deem appropriate. The most interesting news from north Texas at the moment
involves the Magma RS3's which have recently arrived on the Blacklands RR in Sulphur Springs, TX. RS3s 2 and 3 arrived on January 18,
and have not yet entered revenue service. Rest assured I WILL be photographing them soon after they do!
Other area news involves Ft Worth & Western's beleaguered 4-6-0 locomotive, the 2248, which is currently out of service in Grapevine.
The rumors on the Railspot list that pertain to this engine are many, and there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding its future in north
Texas. Currently, Coe Rail, the operator of the passenger train which runs on Ft Worth & Western, has begun operating the Texas Star
Clipper dinner train, commonly known as the Bondo Flyer to north Texas fans, at least those of us on Railspot. The Flyer runs
with 2 ex C&NW F7s, the 407 and 416, which last saw service on the Iowa Star Clipper. The F's have also been running the daily
(except Monday & Tuesday) passenger trains between Grapevine and Ft. Worth.
For the time being, this site is hosted by my ISP, Charter@Home, which offers free webspace
to its web customers. This site may have to
relocate once I outgrow Charter's allocated space for me, something in the neighborhood
of 5 MB. But that's cool, this will be a good chance
for me to learn how some of this stuff works.
As for myself, you'll be learning more about me later. The news page of Southwest Shorts
will be a good place to
learn more about me and
my interests in the coming weeks and months.
I'll try to provide more information on some of my future updates, including the answers
to some of the questions I anticipate, such as:
* Why shortlines?
* Why the hell aren't there more pictures on this site?
and...
* Writing your own HTML??? Are you HIGH???
That's all for now. Check back soon.
WSC
