March is usually a big travel month for our family. On March 17 (St. Patrick's Day), 2005, my daughter and I were on our way to New Mexico for a week of skiing near Ruidoso. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity to photograph some trains along the way, I decided we would take a slight "detour" through southwestern Oklahoma so we could shoot the Hollis & Eastern's daily train from Duke to Altus. The train was right on schedule and is shown here delivering several outbound loads of gypsum wallboard to BNSF. The gate to the left protects the crossing of BNSF's Chickasha Subdivision and shortline Wichita, Tilman & Jackson. Hollis & Eastern's trackage is out of the frame to the right.

A green locomotive might have been a more appropriate subject for St. Patrick's Day, but I still consider this shot of blue-and-white GP10 8170 a "lucky catch". Later that day, we made a more proper observation of the holiday when we stopped in the Texas Panhandle town of Shamrock.